My dear friend Jennifer shares God's words to her and they ring true in my heart:
Let Me tell you what is in store: the adventures we will go on together, the treasures to be found; the twists and turns that do not ellicit fear but excitement when your eyes stay fixed on Mine, your step locked with Mine.
Read more of her inspiring post here.
Last fall, after I wrote about how I wanted to stop letting fear limit me, God presented two opportunities at our church's annual retreat.
As we climbed the winding stairs to the zipline tower's deck, it seemed taller than I had imagined. My daughter and I reached the top, and we began buckling on the harness and gear as instructed by a very young-looking guy.
My friend Karen advises us to keep walking right off the deck. And, oh yeah, don't look down before jumping. I ask her to pray for us.
My heart somersaults. I see a flicker of fear in my girl's eyes. I put on my best "we can do it" smile as I tell her that we will be fine; we will go off together at the count of "1,2, and 3."
Finally, it is our turn. We stand about five feet apart and the doors off the deck open. I pray, smile encouragingly at our girl, and count, "1, 2, 3" and "Let's go."
We walk-leap past our fears, drop, and then [thankfully] a solid catch and pull up of the harness as we propel forward. The ride finishes too quickly and we're hooked.
Ready for the next adventure: a nearby climbing wall. We get in line while we shed some of our previous gear. The young female guide instructs us on the basics.
The climbing wall was not quick as it took time to find the next toehold for my foot, and a place to hold onto with my hand. I strain to reach about 3/4ths up the wall before slipping off. The harness and our competent guide (gratefully) catch me.
It was exciting and fun to experience these two new adventures with our girl. Another highlight: my husband tried the wall, then told me that I had surprised him by how far I had climbed. Nice to know, that after 20 years of marriage, I can still surprise him, and myself.
God answered my prayer to not live by fear...at least for that weekend.
This blog and Twitter (just joined), are new adventures for me. So much to learn...and I fail and fall but God catches me because I am harnessed to His love and truth/promises.
I want to THANK my new and long-time friends, who have joined me on this blogging adventure by GIVING AWAY two books that have made a difference in my journey. The two books are THE GIFT OF BEING YOURSELF: The Sacred Call to Self Discovery by David G. Benner (from a biblical perspective) and Rumors of Water: thoughts on creativity and writing by L.L. Barkat (practical & inspiring).
HOW TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY (which will end in about a week (roughly 1/16/12) with the winner to be announced by or around Friday, January, 20, 2012):
- Subscribe to my blog by e-mail;
- Or follow me on Twitter (@soulstops);
- Or leave a comment here and be sure to include your e-mail so I can contact you. I keep all e-mails PRIVATE, and I do NOT rent, sell, or trade your e-mails.
- Or Tweet about my giveaway, and let me know at soulstops (at) gmail (dot) com.
- Current E-mail subscribers and Twitter followers are AUTOMATICALLY entered in the giveaway.
- For my non-US subscribers, if you are picked, I will contact you on how to proceed because the S&H can be high, so we'll figure out some gift-in-kind.
- This is my first giveaway, so I kindly ask for patience, if there are glitches. Thanks!
HOW WILL THE WINNER BE PICKED? Randomly - the good ole' name in a hat method. I will announce the winner by or @ 1/20/12.
This post was inspired by Jennifer and by: "OPEN" - my word and heart-stance for 2012 (read here).
I am linking to L.L. Barkat's and also to Laura Boggess' blog. Bless yourself and check out their great blogs.
© Soul Stops/Dolly L. 2011. Creative Commons License: Okay for noncommercial use if you attribute this post to me and link to my permalink and blog.