Okay so I have failed in keeping up with my Catalyst Diary... I am going to go back to that, I promise. I still want to spend some time thinking on and processing things from that conference.
HOWEVER, this past weekend I went on my first-ever backpacking trip so of course, I must share this experience with all. I've been camping and I've been hiking...but I'd never done the backpacking thing before. And I must say, I am hooked. We took 16 high school students and adults to Big South Fork near Jamestown. It was BEAUTIFUL!
As expected, it was just so fantastic to get away from normal civilization and live the simple life for about 48 hours. On Saturday afternoon, we went out to this huge rock/cliff that had a ridiculous view. We got to just chill at that spot for a couple of hours...which was a perfect opportunity for each of us to go off and spend some quality/quiet time with God. So here's where me and God hung out for about an hour...yeah, what I would PAY to have a quiet time spot like this every day!
I had kinda already been anxiously awaiting that time that I could spend with God on the trip, because there's been so much going on in my heart and in my life lately that I've just wanted a good chunk of quality alone-time with Him to talk through and sort through some stuff. But it was weird...as soon as I took a few seconds to just breathe, I felt like He was asking me to simply "be still". So I was...for about an hour. And I just let Zephaniah 3:17 kinda wash over me. It says:
"He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing".
I really felt like I could just hear Him saying "shhhh...let Me quiet you with My love. You're heart and your mind are running all over the place right now. You're concerned about so many things...but just let Me sing over you for a while". So instead of me spending tons of time pouring out all of my concerns and my questions about all the things that are going on right now, He just quieted me. And I think I needed that more than anything.
And I would just venture to say that I'm not the only one that needs to be quieted with His love right now. I would encourage you to let Him do that for you.
So here are the 10 things I learned this weekend:
1. I love freeze-dried food.
2. Do not sleep at the bottom of a tent on a slant when there's water all in the tent.
3. You can stinkin' carry a LOT on your back
4. If you feel something poking your foot, you should probably check on it sooner than later. It just might be a beastly roofing nail sticking through your shoe.
5. Tennessee is one of the most beautiful places on the planet.
6. Clean water is something I totally take for granted.
7. I CAN live without my macbook for 2 days.
8. If you think you should put on tights under your sweatpants before you go to sleep, you should.
9. Everyone has an incredible life story to share...take the time to listen.
10. I love backpacking
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