a walk to remember

I grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. My parents bought a new car every four years, so needless to say, us kids learned to drive the farm truck. I have yet to pass an old truck without feeling that peaceful, easy, freedom of being a teenager driving down an old dirt road. 

I love old trucks. 

So when our Home Group retreated to a mountain cabin a few weeks ago, I was overcome with nostalgia when I spotted this old Ford truck on a walk. Oh the roads we would travel together. I imagined myself truckin' down a country road, stopping at every farm sale, auction, junk shop and thrift store.

Oh look, I spotted this aqua blue spigot too. 

And you know my love of barbed wire... 

... but check out the aqua blue cabin beyond the barbed wire. 

Oh for the love of apples, I have yet to bake an apple pie this fall!

I love rusty, old signs. My husband & I have been married 33 years. Does this mean we're vintage? That we're getting rusty and old? Mmm...

The leaves were just beginning to change. So when I came across this visual, I pondered in my heart... did the leaves change in spite of the cobwebs? Will the cobwebs stunt the growth and beauty of this autumn transformation? Can we grow and mature in spite of our sin that so easily entangles us? Can we be transformed by the renewing of our minds in the midst of pain and suffering? Again...

"We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us, we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be." ~ C.S.Lewis

More barbed wire. But check out the Manzanita bush in the background...

I love the dark red bark on the Manzanita bush that grows throughout Arizona.

In nature, manzanita seeds germinate following a fire. So that got me thinking...

I know that we grow and mature when we trust God to do His work and will in our lives, when we are tested under fire, when we allow the testing of faith to produce perseverance. 

So why do I fight it? 

 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:4

Oh that I may persevere in this season, keeping my eyes on Jesus, fully aware of His presence and unwavering love for me.