Is there a doctor in the house??

Why do us humans insist on being tough? Why is it that when we fall down, we get up looking around to see if anyone was watching and actually saw us hit the ground? Is it fear? If so, what are we afraid of? We are so caught up in the comparison game, that I think we are afraid another human will judge us as less than perfect if they see we have fallen. We get up and brush it off saying we are okay and then we limp away to go lick our wounds in private. Trouble with that is that if we are really hurt, the reality of our injuries isn't known until we are alone and can't get help. We then suffer in silence.  WELL STOP IT!! Who cares that you fell? You are hurt and bleeding so speak up! What if that other person who saw you fall is a nurse or a doctor who can help heal you? Isn't that worth swallowing your pride and saying something?

The Rising River

**At the Forever conference last week, I was given a beautiful journal to wrote 'my story' in so this is the first entry in my journal after all of the conference notes #rrcforeverconf15 :

Normally a stream...

Yesterday morning on my way to church, I watched all along the river; the water rising. A week's worth of rain and a Winter's worth of snow melt has brought the level up to raging from a slow and steady flow. It is a part of Spring living along the South Platte River. South of our house, the South Platte and the North Fork of the South Platte converge together. As I pass the confluence, I see a group of Search and Rescue folks fully geared up practicing rescues in the rising water. 

Suddenly, it hit me; there is a correlation between what I am witnessing and how God works in our lives. Sometimes, we need flood waters to rise so WE can learn how to save a life! Those Search and Rescue people cannot just jump into a raging river and hope to save someone from being swept away. They must learn how to do it through classroom teaching and then simulations. However, the BEST way to practice is by putting their skills to the test in real life scenarios; the kind that can only be tested when the waters are fully raging! So it is as well with God. Sometimes we have to go through things in this life that are just plain scary! Yet, it is in those really rough waters of life where we learn to lean on Him and build up our skills so that in the future, we might save a life. Just like a Search and Rescue team, we never know when our learning will be put to the test so we must practice to prepare but without real-life situations, we might not know what needs to be done.

Thank you God for the 'rising rivers' in life that prepare me to be a 'warrior chick' for your army to build your eternal kingdom!

The Path from an Angel

Long Scraggy Peak from the West

Yesterday morning was just absolutely beautiful so I definitely didn't want to hang out on the sofa missing out. Ever since we moved to the foothills along the South Platte river, I have wanted to climb the closest peak to our house Long Scraggy Peak. Standing at a mere 8500 feet in elevation, this one isn't much to write home about.  However, the location is just shy of 6 miles just to the base and then straight up from about 7000 feet so it can be a pretty good work out.  Well I decided to head out on a gated road that I know to go at least around the base in hopes of finding at least some way up.  The initial walk along the road can be lonely and really quite boring alone.  However, as I crested a hill, I was met by the sweetest 80-year-old lady just out what I would assume to be her daily walk.  As often is done on the trail, we traded pleasantries and I started to pass her by when she stopped me and asked if I was planning on summiting Scraggy. I was surprised by the question but was trying to move along so I gave her a short answer of "not planning on it". She smiled and said, "Well if you ever decide to do so, here is the way..." and proceeded on describing in detail the path to the summit.  Wait, what?  I was hoping to find some sort of trail, trail head, or at the very least, an animal path and here was this sweetheart giving me all of the details to the summit. We parted ways and I headed further down the road in search of the hidden path she had just shared with me.  Now just to be clear, when I am out hiking alone, I have given every single detail of the plan to my husband so that he knows exactly where I am and when I am going to be back. There was no way I was going to summit Scraggy yesterday because it was not part of that descriptive plan to him. However, I did veer off the path slightly by hiking about 1/2 mile up the trail to the summit.  I stopped for a lovely lunch with a view and wrote the following in my journal:

View at lunch from Long Scraggy

"Hello World - from the lower backside of Long Scraggy Peak! I tell ya - I would summit this bad boy if it weren't for the fact that there is still tons of snow on the trail and that I told Mike I wouldn't ;) It's funny though, because I set out on this walk to find a road or a trail up the back side and wouldn't you know that a local stopped me on her (probably) daily walk and gave me the ins and outs of summiting Scraggy Peak.  That's God sending an angel right down to Earth and providing a path.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised, huh? I have been praying lately that he provide a path that he wants me to follow!  Thank you God that you are always with me and that you continue to show me the way! Thank you for the peace that comes with that knowledge!"