à bientôt  <3

This will be the last post on the Journey for a few weeks as I will be heading out with just my phone and boarding a plane in a few short hours to begin the trip to Kenya. 

I well remember the first time I embarked on this trek across the ocean and down below the equator and the second one I took and now again today. 

It is akin to the feeling I have when I go against my better judgment and agree to ride a roller coaster of any kind. As the belt is snapped into place and the bar comes down and locks, I swallow back the urge to scream out that I am not sure I am up to what is about to happen. 

Part excitement and the thrill of a new challenge that will test me and shake me out of my comfort zone and part extreme anxiety at the what-if’s and part a dying to self of one who loves home and family more than any adventure ever offered. 

I wish I could find a drawing I sketched in a journal many years ago. I am a doodler and this one was a roller coaster frame with lots of ups and downs. At the top of one of the deep pitches I drew a small cart and a tiny head. With an arrow pointing down, I wrote…this is me and my life right now. 

As I finished the last stroke of my pen, I heard God whisper…

Ahhhh…but you see, I built the track. 

This is God’s promise for me in all the seasons of life…He orchestrates my days and He holds me in them. 

He doesn’t take away the breath-taking moments or the long dry spells. He doesn’t shield me from the curves and speed or the slow climb up before the big drop from the summit. 

But He made the track and He made my life and He is with me. 

Always. 

He is ahead of me and behind me and with all those I love so much. 

He loves them more and I can rest in Him even when I have to slow my breathing down and settle into my seat. 

The belt is about to clamp shut on another ride for this journey and I am ready because He has prepared me <3