I’ve just been regrouping for the past two days…

Being quiet, praying, looking past the chaos that sometimes comes in our family schedule…

This verse has come to mind quite a bit…

“Be still, and know that I am God” – Psalm 46:10.

It’s so good to know how He loves us, that He cares about every area of our lives, that He’s always trying to help – the good Father that He is.

Lovely people have been sending me lovely words of encouragement and support…

So many people willing to walk alongside me on the journey for a while…

This journey towards health that I find myself on.

Thank you for walking and talking with me…

It’s good to have some company.

Sleep has come easier for me – last night I finally managed to get just OVER 7 hours.

I feel like a new woman.

What if I could get that kind of sleep every night?

Ah, but one day at a time is what is helping right now.

I managed to get through another book that’s been sitting on my shelf for a few months…

 

This one really helped with affirming that I’m on the right track with just getting back to basics, and knowing that being healthy isn’t rocket science.

It’s all the things I already know, updated a little since I learned them.

It’s whole grains and lean meat and fruits and vegetables and lots of water and exercise.

At this point in my life it’s also a little weight training (this is a new one for me, but I’ve been lifting weights off and on for years – 5 or 10 pounds that is!).

It’s being active with the boys (I always suspected this could be my best exercise regiment!) and my Joshua (no, I’m NOT getting on the judo mats Josh!).

It’s getting back on my bike and going for walks and hiking the Rainbow Route trails and finally using the canoe paddle Josh bought me for Valentine’s Day YEARS ago and swimming in the Northern Ontario lakes (once it warms up just a LITTLE bit more!).  These are all things I absolutely love to do.

I’ve been recruiting family and friends to walk and hike and bike rides for decades. Did I ever mention my dream to bike across Canada one day? That dream never fades, so I trust it will come when the time is right.  Josh says he’ll drive alongside in the van and set up camp every night.  Thanks sweetie. Maybe our sons will ride alongside me on the journey?

One thing I know for certain is that God is with me on the journeys of life… He has always been with me on the journeys…

I remember one of the biggest journeys of my 40 years…

I’d always wanted to see the Rocky Mountains… and so when I felt like heading off to Bible college after re-dedicating my life to Christ when I was 23, guess which school I chose… That’s right – Rocky Mountain Bible College in Calgary, Alberta.

And what a journey it was… I flew out with a good friend about a month before school began. We stayed in hostels and drove through the mountains to Vancouver. We left the rental car behind and met up with another friend who was living on Vancouver Island at the time. One friend went back home to job and family, I stayed with the other friend for a few weeks in Victoria. During my stay I joined in on a Wilderness Expedition for 3 days – travelled in a van across the island with 11 people I didn’t know…

Canoed in Rocky Mountain lakes…

Sauntered through the West Coast Rainforest…

Walked among 600-year-old trees in Cathedral Grove… (can you see me in the bottom left corner with the sunlight spilling down?  Such a cool shot!)

Hiked through the clear-cuts of Clayoquot Sound…

And swam in the Pacific Ocean at Long Beach…

 Mmmmhmmm… really good adventures…

Then back to Calgary to start school.

Again, I didn’t know a soul, didn’t know how I’d pay for school, didn’t have a place to live or a job.

Found a room to rent on the bulletin board at the school.  Her name was Mary-Catherine and we had the same birthday. I figured it was destiny, that God was working it all out in His special ways – I wasn’t wrong.

And when a whirlwind romance with a fantastic man came her way and she married soon after I moved in, her family who lived two doors down took me in and the Heides cared for me like I was one of their own (they already had 4 girls! I still call them friends and visited with them just 2 years ago on a church-planting trip to Calgary – but that’s another post for another day…) They hadn’t been expecting a boarder, but this family has always done their best to follow God’s leading, and I’m so glad God led me to them for a time.  They fixed up a lovely room off their den and let me choose the wallpaper and it was home for 4 months.

I found a job at my favourite restaurant – Swiss Chalet – and walked back and forth to work after school was done for the day.

I got some OSAP to help pay tuition.

I got a couple of friends to hang out with.

God was with me every step of the way.

He was with me on the nights I walked home from work, the crisp fall air rustling the leaves as I prayed – alot.

He was with me on the bus rides to school as I explored the strange surroundings of a new city.

He was with me when I signed up to spend a week at the Mustard Seed as part of a course at school – I never doubted my safety, even when we walked the streets as the homeless, or lined up for food, or slept in the old church, or ate with people who yelled obscenities at me. I was scared, I was far out of my comfort zone (couldn’t even see it if I tried!), but I never doubted He was with me.

The journeys He brings us through are never what we imagine – always a little better or a little worse, I’ve found.

But they are always good, and always just what He intends.

So this journey of health is no different. Some days will be better than I think, and some days will be worse.

One day at a time, one day being “different” at a time.

And learning, step by step, how to do “different.”

I’m sure I’ll have some cool snapshots to share along the way – maybe not in pictures, but in experiences and memories and realizations.

I’ll keep sharing the journey… I can’t help myself… it’s just who He made me to be.