Walking the Path We are Given~~~

Many years ago I had a chance to visit the Redwood Forest area in California-this picture (Courtesy of Picassa Background photos) reminded me of the immense beauty I saw that day.  Vehicles could only go so far and then it was time to stop and simply walk the path in front of us as I drank in one of God's most 

beautiful creations.

I had read about how quiet the Forest would be-but nothing prepared me for the reality of being surrounded by Trees that appeared to reach for the Heavens and not a Sound could be heard.  It was like having stepped into another world- being given a chance to drink in such splendid beauty.

You could see areas where one of these Giants had fallen-thinking how Loud that sound was, but as I looked around, it seemed the sound was cushioned in some magical way by all the other trees, as this One fell back to Earth to make room for another Giant to grow tall and sturdy.

We are all given Paths in life to walk-sometimes it seems a dozen Paths are flying at us and we don't know which one to take, but if we stop and ask God to help, we know He is with us.

 If anyone had told me I would be living with Chronic Pain for all these years- I would have 

thought them to be out of their minds-because I never saw anything of this nature happening to me!

My Path seemed so clear to me, a loving husband, a son-I looked forward to the future ahead and gave no

thought to the decision I made that day as I climbed the tree.  What I didn't realize then was that God had

sent me Three Warning Signals~~~

the day before I climbed the tree-I decided to do a Test Run of sorts-climbing up high on our old Water Cistern, tied a rope to the Lid, then wrapped it around my waist and made a few steps toward another tall tree-and began sliding instantly! 

~~~~~ Warning One-"Martha, this is a bad idea"~~~~~~

but I was determined and the Next Day was Tree Time-I climbed the tree and here came

~~~~~Warning Two-"Oh, the Ladder fell"~~~~~~

but again I ignored a very obvious problem and went higher!

Finally when I had reached the height of 12 feet up-a thought flew by me-words of pleading from my 

husband "Just wait until Tomorrow and I will do it"

~~~~~Warning Three had arrived~~~~

The rest is history as they say and now my life had taken a very different Path- I had no clue as to

how difficult the Journey was going to be.  I have stumbled, almost given up, raged with Anger for all that was happening to me and then began to slowly find my way along the Path~~

 I finally reached for God's loving Hand and started walking,  taking it one step at a time.

Everyone has a Path to walk-it is by His Grace that we can keep finding the courage to continue.

I ask God to please be with everyone who is Walking the Path with Chronic Pain.

martha