The Rock

In 1994 the International Pathfinder Camporee was held in Morrison, Colorado.  That was my first trip to Colorado and I knew in my heart this state would someday be home.  Since that trip I held onto a rock I picked up at Red Rocks amphitheater.  It was the paperweight on my desk or a dust collector with other knick knacks on the shelves.  A constant reminder of something God has shown me would happen someday.
Over the next 16 years life went on. I graduated high school, gave birth to my daughter 9 months later.  Got married and had 2 more kids.  We moved quite a bit, but never really left Michigan.  Then we were transferred to Japan and lived there for 3 years. 
In 2010 I filed for divorce from my husband and wanted to find a place to start over.  I was taking classes online at the community college of Denver so I took a look at the housing around Denver and quickly ruled it out because it was too expensive. Then the Lord intervened.  As I was trying to register for the next semester of classes nothing was working out.  They kept losing my paperwork, or not getting it at all.  I'd mail them the paperwork needed, they didn't get the email.  I'd fax it to them and the fax machine came up with an error message.  Over and over for about a month no matter what we tried something went wrong.  I needed to get those classes done, so I finally decided to fly to Denver and straighten it out in person.  Being back in Denver I was reminded of the beauty of this state and the sense of home that I felt being here.  That winter, our first one back in Michigan, was terrible!  We had been in Japan for 3 years and had been used to mild winters.  I was not prepared to drive in snow.  So in January 2011 we packed up the van and hit the road.  18 states and almost 10,000 miles in about 6 weeks.  We wanted to see where we could enjoy winter again.  Of all the states we visited it came down to the ones in the southwestern region: Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Southern California.  We made a 2nd trip to Colorado in May of 2011 and 2 months later we were following a big yellow moving van full of our belongings heading to Colorado.
I had to borrow the money from my parents to cover the moving expenses.  Even after we got here we were homeless for 6 weeks.  Yet I knew where the Lord wanted to be and I chose to follow.  In the 1 1/2 years we have been here we have made so many friends.  We are blessed with 2 amazing church families and an awesome home school support group. For the first time in my life the gypsy spirit in me doesn't feel it has to wander so much.  Instead we take a hike into the mountains and enjoy the day in God's creation.  I love it!
Deuteronomy 32:4  says He is the Rock, His works are perfect and all His ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.
Life is messy, stuff happens.  We can be distracted and sometimes out of fear or stubbornness we make the wrong choices.  Yet God's plan never changes.  His plan is for us to draw closer to him, and show those He brings into our lives who God is.  We need to remember to hold onto the Rock and focus on His plan. He never promised His path would be the easiest, but when God is for us who can be against us?  (Romans 8:31)