~with a road map that is folded and worn~

Someone wisely mentioned to me in conversation this past week that we all carry a roadmap to get us where we need to be in this life.  For those who don't carry one, the road is a little more unsure and the propensity to become lost along the way becomes pretty much a given.

I've carried a road map forever it would seem, one that is now quite folded and worn.
Maps are kind of important and a useful tool to keep us on track and headed in the right direction.  

When Mike and I first decided to leave our Colorado home in 2015, we sat down at the kitchen table and spread an atlas out before us.  Mike turned to Texas because that was the general area we knew we would be heading.  He literally looked at the two page spread devoted to the Lone Star state for all of about a minute and then took his pencil and made a circle around the city of Wichita Falls.  Actually there was no real reason for him to do that.  Locating there had never been a topic of our discussion at any time.

 It just happened that way.

We set our sights in that general vicinity, veering no more than 30 miles either way around the city.  Neither of us really had a clue of what would lie ahead of us and in blind faith we went forward.  We had no prospect of jobs and not even a home to say would be ours.  Two years later we find ourselves very settled in the town of Burkburnett, certainly not where we thought we were coming at first but definitely where the good Lord above intended for us to be all along. Life has been good to us here.

For me, the journey I've been on has been a strange one that has been filled with so many changes, especially in the last few years.

My life's road map started out simply enough and actually for the first 50 so odd years of my life didn't really get all that worn out.  I stayed put, quite content to stay in the state I was born in.  Shoot, I was ok with staying in the same county I had lived in forever.  I would put a crease or two in the map every once in a while, I suppose just for good measure.   The truth be told, I did indeed lose my road map not once, but several times along the way.  Each time I found it, I did one thing for certain.

I would dust off the map, straighten it back up, put another fold in, and started off again.

In this the spring of my 62nd year upcoming,  I have no idea where life will lead me in the future.  Just when I think I have it all figured out, something else seems to arise.  When it does, yet another fold goes in.  Every once in a while the thought of not knowing exactly what will happen to me in the months and years ahead becomes unnerving.  Yet I have faith and for me that means believing that my part of the plan is still unfolding.  It will be my place to wait patiently and see, trusting always in someone far greater than me.

In the end, when the final crease finds its way into the compass that I've carried with me all along, then I will finally know where it was intended for me to be. 

Maps~they take you where you are going.
See you there friends and family, when we all get there.  I'm looking forward to it.

A sweet young 4th grade boy named Ezequiel drew the design for the top of the wedding cake that was made for Mike and I in 2013.  It was just another road map that showed how life changed for this Kansas school teacher.

It was fun to teach students at St. Patrick's school in Owego , New York all about the great state of Kansas in 2013.

First grade children in Olathe, Colorado learned all about a kind man named Norman by following his journey across America in 2014.

Wow, did I ever follow this map about a gazillion times going back and forth between Hutchinson and Montrose.  I could have driven it with my eyes closed most times, yet I promise you that I never did.