One of my favorite places to hike around here in the Springs is Garden of the Gods. If you've been there, you know what a beautiful place it is. I like wandering around it, trying to find a new view of the the world around me, usually from the top of a boulder. There's one spot I love going to most, called the Siamese Twins. There are different rock piles around that I scurry around and climb up... and then I usually just sit there and think. I love those places. I thought I had found some of my favorite spots in Garden of the Gods. Then today, a friend and I went on a hike around there. We went to "my" rock formations and wandered around... And then we kept going. Farther and farther away from where I usually stayed. The spots where I would just sit, just me and God. I love those spots. But the farther I got from those places, the more I saw. We kept hiking, going higher and higher. Some of the hills we went up were really hard. I would simply keep walking, pushing myself to keep going, knowing if I stopped it'd be harder to start again. When we got to the top we would take small breaks and then get ready to tackle the next hill we saw. And that's how it went. We finally came along this ridge where we saw an amazing view of Kissing Camels (that's another rock formation). We stood there for a minute, just looking at it. I started realizing that the entire hike was worth it just to see this view. I didn't know that there was a view like that in Garden of the Gods. Everything else I had seen was beautiful... but this was breathtaking.
Later driving home, I realized that's how my life is right now. I'm sitting in a spot where God feels so close and it's someplace that I love. It's someplace that I'm comfortable going to. But, I don't want to settle for that place anymore. I want to go past it. I want God to take me farther, deeper, higher... I want to see more of Him. Cause I know when I get there, it will be beyond my wildest imaginations. But I also know that to get there won't be easy. I'm going to have to give up control of my life. I'm going to have to persevere through hard times and then take a breath and get ready for the next one. I'm going to have to lean on my friends and family for encouragement. But ultimately, I'm just going to have to believe that God is truth and that He will lead me where I need to go. One of my favorite verses is Jeremiah 29:11 ~ "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." It encourages me to know that God knows where I'm going to end up. And that's all I need to know. That and the reality that anywhere He takes me is going to be... awesome.
