Pathways

I will bring the blind by a way that they did not know;

    I will lead them in paths that they have not known.

I will make darkness light before them

    and crooked things straight.

These things I will do for them

    and not forsake them.

Isaiah 42:16

Pathways intrigue me.  There are so many different kinds of paths. Straight ones, crooked ones, smooth ones, rocky ones.  Ones clearly marked and ones hidden in plain sight.  Some lead to a destination and some dead end. There are paths that go straight uphill, follow the flat plains, some take you down and then up.  There are wide paths and precariously narrow ones.  I've seen paths covered in the shade of trees and sun soaked paths.   

In 1995 my husband and I went hiking up a path on Mt. Evans.  It was almost completely covered under the shade of trees and it was snow packed and icy.  When we got to a particular place on the trail and he sat me on a large boulder.  With snot running out of my nose and my toes tingling from the snow hike he asked me to marry him.  I told him he must be sick and we needed to get him to a hospital right away.  Oh and then eventually, sitting on that boulder, I said yes. 

In 2001 a group of my MOPS friends and I decided we would do a girls only hike up Pikes Peak.  We spent the summer training and then in August we hiked a variety of paths that led to the tippy top of Pikes Peak.  I live a very sedentary life, I was pretty proud of myself.

In 2006 I was forced on a path of betrayal.  It was one of the toughest paths I've ever had to navigate but at the end of it was a stunning place of restoration.

In 2007 I traveled a flight path from Colorado to Nairobi, Kenya. I had never been overseas and I was certainly "never" going to Africa and yet there I was. Yes, there I was in the midst of the oldest slum in East Africa falling in love with the people of Kenya, having heart surgery, and returning to Colorado a totally new Beth, the one I was originally meant to be.

In 2010 I ran a marked path in Golden, Colorado. I ran with Bon Jovi on my iPod and my lifelong best friend in my heart. I ran the path in memory of her and to raise awareness and money for Pancreatic Cancer Research. Pancreatic cancer stole her from this life way too soon. 

In 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2014 I crawled along a path where the mountaintop was never visible from the depths of the deep and dark valley I was in called depression.  Those paths were strenuous on my heart, my marriage, my friendships, but not on my relationship with God. Those paths gave me a deeper hold on the one who created me and held me.  

I'm not a risk taker by nature. I don't look at a path that I can't see very well and move forward on it anyway. I want a little information; how long is the path, where does it end up, will it be easy or hard to travel, are there others on it and if so who, information like that is what I usually want to know. Sometimes I can get some of the information, most of the time not.  It's the same with the life paths I encounter, I prefer some information.  Sometimes I can get some, most of the time not. God asks me to take the risk and trust him. And so I have to step onto the path and know I am being led and I can trust what I don't know and see to the One who does know and see.

What kinds of paths have you traveled so far in this life you've been given?  

The Lord God is my Strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army; He makes my feet like hinds’ feet and will make me to walk [not to stand still in terror, but to walk] and make [spiritual] progress upon my high places [of trouble, suffering, or responsibility]!

Habakkuk 3:19