Rays of Light

Being outside and walking is a big part of my life.  I've probably mentioned walking in several of my posts but I do love it, not just for exercise but mostly because it's how I cleanse my mind. 

 

On particularly rough days, walking may turn to jogging.  Sometimes I feel like Forrest Gump and get the notion that I just want to run and that I could just keep runnin' till I can't any more.  Unlike Forrest though, I can only make it a couple miles before I wimp out and go back to walking.    

 

The other day I decided, rather than going to drive and pick up the dog's medicine, I was going to walk the 6+ miles roundtrip.  Well, about half way through, I saw storm clouds off in the distance. 

 

I was just mesmerized when I saw the beauty of the sun's rays shining down to earth through the clouds.  For me, whenever I see this, it's like experiencing a glimpse of heaven. 

 

But what also caught my eye was just how heavy and dark some of the clouds were and I could see the sheets of rain pouring down from them.  Being that I was still pretty far from home, I worried that I might not make it back before the storm surrounded me so I decided I better pick up the pace. 

 

As I jogged home, my mind drifted to the all the other "storms" in my life and how it seems I run to escape them too.  But what I really started to realize is that I don't run to escape them...I run to cope with them.

 

As the storm clouds got closer and grew more threatening, I also thought about Daddy. I thought about the last time I was out running and how the flood gates opened up on me.  I hadn't had any way to contact Him and I was a drowned rat trudging my way home with rain beating down so hard it was stinging my skin and I couldn't keep my eyes open.  

 

But Daddy had known the general direction I had been headed and He found me, driving up like a knight on a white horse offering me shelter and a dry towel.  

 

Something I took for granted for far too long...Daddy is and always will be my shelter.  It took  many years to accept that it's not me against the world and I don't have to find my own safe place. 

 

No matter how hard or how far I run trying to purge myself of the storms in my life, I know He will always find me.