the good paths you can’t see

I went for a run yesterday. I ran through a new, paved neighborhood. I knew there was still an unpaved part that would connect to another neighborhood that I know in the area. I could head that way, cross over into the next one and connect the two. It would make it a nice, new, fun little run.

The connecting unpaved part was super muddy and super fun. And if I’m being honest, I love a good trail but rarely go alone. This one was adventurous, though only much too brief.
After it was over, a funny thing happened. When I made it through to the next paved neighborhood, it was not the one I thought it was at all. I looked around and realized I was in a completely different neighborhood than I had imagined.
I had imagined the one north of where I ended up, and found myself in one I had forgotten about. It was a lovely spot. It was a lovely run too. It was just a bit disorienting for a while. Like how did I get here and how was this all connected. I felt mixed up for a minute. Then it was completely lovely.

Have you ever felt that way? Things eventually connected but not like you imagined, not how you thought at all. And Sometimes you have to cross through some unpaved muddy paths to find the next spot, to fit the pieces of your path all together.

Looking back on this year it’s hard to imagine. Hard to imagine if last year I had any idea of where I was going or what was to come. Things happened I couldn’t have imagined. Life is messy and wonderful and humbling and kind and this year was all the things that a normal year is. Including, a Training ground for the next year.
This past year specifically I feel like I stepped into some plans that were in the works for a while. My whole life, maybe. Beyond the main ideas and pursuits of wife and mom, daughter, sister, and friend, a lot happened this year.
Gently, though. Slowly and suddenly all at once. Nothing that I went for head-first and full bore.
But yet, plans and dreams I couldn’t even have put into words were realized. Things were birthed that I’d been carrying as seeds (and there’s more to come.)
But the best part is, I don’t feel as though I chased a single one of them. I chased Him. And He took me on adventure. Adventures (!!) I never saw coming, not really. But yet I felt it all along, too. When I got “there”, it felt normal and natural and like home in a lot of ways. Because He’d been preparing me all along. That’s what He does.

Whether you like that mud or you prefer more solid trails, they’re all there for a reason. They’re all there for you discover something, to go somewhere you need to, and then to keep going.
Following God’s path is always like that. As much as you allow, He will take you from one muddy, smooth, unpaved or cleared road to the next. He will connect all the dots. He will bring it all together. You just have to keep going. And if you do, He will use it all for His glory.

The mud, the tears, the imperfect, and most profoundly, the SURRENDER.
But don’t just surrender to the path or the process. To the humility or to the strength that will be needed for whatever is ahead. Surrender -to HIM.

He knows how to get you where you’re supposed to go. Even when you don’t know where that is exactly. He will and can get you were where you’re meant to be. To the good places He has planned for you.

Looking back over this year, none of the great “things” that happened were a part of my plans. I didn’t set them as goals.
(How could I for things that I had yet to see?)
But I think I set the year off deciding and wanting to follow hard after Him. Because He wooed me.
Because He loves me.
Because in Him I found the One my soul desires.
Because I’ve learned that I can trust Him.

I can’t wait to see what He’s preparing for me again this year. Am I setting goals? Yes and no and not really at all at the same time, too. I have some ideas, some general aims, but I hold them all loosely. They are not my master. Christ is, and I am first, most, His servant.
So, my main goal? It is to follow hard after Him, in a non- striving, actually anti-striving way. In a natural, super- natural way, to meet with Him. Every day. To let Him guide me, let Him shape my character and my desires and to see where He takes me with it all. I’m “in it to win it”. I’m in this life, to WIN- whatever He has planned. Most of all to “win” Him, who won it all. This year, May He win, again and again, my heart.
I hope He can win yours too. He’s worth it. All.

You can trust Him too, friend.
🙌🏻🫶🏻✨❤️🥰.
And I can’t wait to see where He takes you.