Roadsigns

I went for a jog today. That alone could be counted as a miracle. I don't jog, or run. I prefer working out doing something fun like dancing or jump on the bed with my two year old, but for some reason I needed to go for a jog today, and so I did.

Now I wasn't jogging in my normal neighborhood, but my parents which is a different city than I. My mom had tried to explain about this cool path that lead to these stairs and through a peaceful forest, but I am honestly too visual to comprehend what she was saying and decided I would just go where I felt lead. I sort of hoped I might get a little lost along the way.

As I began my jog I began to remember why I had started jogging my senior year. Even if you are not very fit, there is something so therapeutic about mindlessly moving at a fast past out in fresh air with your favorite music blaring in your ears. I jogged along the main road mostly until I passed a road that seemed to call my name. This street was a steep hill, so I slowed down to a power walk and began to trek up it. Soon I saw a sign saying "Bumps Ahead". As my mind idled on the sign I came to a realization: no one ever avoids a street that leads to the destination because of the warning of bumps in the road. Doesn't that sound like an absurd thing to do? So, why then do we do it in life?

Most people know that the last three months of my life have been bumpier than riding up a dried up creek bed in a covered wagon. However, I wouldn't trade them for the world. I have grown more in the last 11 weeks than I have probably since the first year of my life. Every bump, with the shake and rattle it has caused in my life has removed heavy and unimportant weights that have been holding me back, slowing me from getting to God's best.

As I continued up the road the hill became steeper and steeper and despite my attempt to take a side street to avoid it, I soon realized that conquring that hill was my only option. Once I finally wheezed to the top, I looked down to see a staircase, leading to a path in a beautiful forest area. I couldn't help but smile. I giggled to myself about how symbolic that is of life. How sometimes, the difficult road labeled with "bumps ahead" and hills so steep we try to avoid them will be the road that leads us to the beautiful path that others tried to tell us about from the beginning.

During my cool down walk through the forest worship began to play on my iPod. I couldn't help but sing. There was a fleating moment of concern for if someone could hear my out of breath harmonies being belted across the forest, but that quickly passed. God HAD to be worshiped in that moment. If there is anything I have learned in this last season it is to give the Father Glory when He shows Himself and in that moment, He was walking right beside me on the amazingly beautiful path He had laid out for me before I even set out on my jog.