WELCOME

 It's written all over the biblical texts and it's written into the fabric of our DNA - the need for a meaningful pause... 

"Christian hope is different from optimism. Optimism is a natural virtue and a wonderful gift of temperament when things are going well, when we think tomorrow is going to be better than today. Christian hope has nothing to do with the belief that tomorrow is necessarily going to be better than today...   

 It felt like I was living in the midst of my greatest miracle to date. All the pieces of the story had lined up in ways I couldn't explain apart from the divine orchestration of God, and the confirmations along the way in my prayer life, my Bible reading, and my intuition appeared to be irrefutable. My faith was growing as I watched the circumstances unfold and began to envision a time where I would share this story with the world. It would grow other people's faith, too! It all seemed so life-changing and wonderful. My heart was so happy. For three incredible months, everything felt so...right. I asked God for the grace to steward the miracle well.  

I can't say I've often heard people say that doing life with God is unnerving: like riding the biggest rollercoaster with your hands in the air and feeling both fear and thrill simultaneously. When God tells you to buckle up and hang on for the ride, I'm not sure many of us are actually prepared for or have a clue of what that actually means. When I first give my brokenness to God and got strapped in for a life of living by faith, I don't think I realized it would often mean heading into the unknown with nothing more than the trusting hand of God to assure me. At the time, I thought I understood what it meant to do life at His side but years since have proven to me there were far more layers to trusting God than that. Perhaps you've discovered that, too.    

 A dear friend of twenty years I haven't spoken to in some time randomly calls me. And it's funny... because I initially thought she was responding to the email I sent her about a week before but, turns out, her computer died and she never got it. This phone call was completely a God thing - she just had something to share and decided to ring me about it. Amazing how that is sometimes, isn't it? God is in everything, friends...   

Actually, it was kind of a big thing.  

 The day had begun as stormy as I'd ever seen it: high winds whipping the trees like a mixer stirring dough, raindrops being blown in circles, dark clouds making it look that morning like dusk was setting in. It was my birthday and all I'd wanted was dry weather - so we could take a fried chicken picnic up to the mountains and be in God's creation. I needed the reset, not just for my body but also for my soul. Yet it appeared as though that plan might be in jeopardy. But I was still hopeful...  

 The sign has been hanging on my bedroom wall for years...

Bob's wife said it weeks before he passed away recently... 

"Let us be present to the now. It's all we have and it's where God will always speak to us. The now holds everything, rejects nothing and, therefore, can receive God too. 

I'm living in the heart of a miracle right now. For the last several weeks, a story has been quietly unfolding that has literally taken my breath away and at times, reduced me to tears. It's everything I've prayed for and needed, wrapped in the unexpectedness with which Jesus often presents His greatest gifts. If you follow this blog regularly, perhaps you're guessing by now that it has something to do with the book I was recently published in. Surprisingly, it doesn't. It's been a completely separate story that's been running simultaneously and only a couple close friends outside my immediate family even know about it. Much like when Jesus healed somebody and told them not to broadcast it, it's not time yet to share the story. I can sense I'm just supposed to sit in the moment right now and savor this journey - this testimony that God is building in the most beautiful of ways. 

 One of the perks of living in a place like Alaska is the limitless hiking one can do, even within a fairly reasonable distance of the populated areas. Visitors to any of the major cities are surprised that someone can take advantage of these chances to get out in nature so close to the more developed communities. It's what I love about being here - you're never very far from the peace and quiet, if only you choose to go seek it out. Creating breathing room in your life is fairly easy here, compared to some places, and I never tire of jumping in the car and heading out to one of these tranquil spaces, throwing on a backpack, and engaging with the wonder of being alive.