As I mentioned in my For Future Generations and Interruptible posts, I had the privilege of attending the Delight leaders retreat in WA back in November. I  stayed a couple extra days with Kristin and her family, which meant that I got to experience their first real snowfall of the season. The fact that I was surrounded by the beautiful Cascade mountains was already a big change from my usual flat terrain, but then add in several inches of snow, and this FL-born-resident-of-VA-where-an-inch-of-snow-shuts-down-the-city girl had been transported to a whole new foreign land.

In this foreign land, there exists something called a snowmobile. Apparently, it’s a special vehicle created to travel over snow. Shockingly, I had never seen one of these mythical creatures in person before. I’m not sure they’re even allowed east of the Mississippi and south of the Mason-Dixon line…maybe in West Virginia since I’ve heard there are snow-covered mountains there where people do something called ‘skiing’ but that’s West Virginia…and I’ve heard those people are ‘special’ anyway…ok, ok, moving on from that rabbit…

As Kristin’s hubby, ‘kids’ (teenagers/young adults), and their friends headed out to frolic in this mythical snow land on the snow creatures, they asked if I wanted to join in on the ‘fun’. My answer was what I usually say when asked to participate in adventurous activities where bodily harm, and/or spikes of adrenaline are likely involved: ‘no thanks.’ Life is enough of an adventure for me and this highly sensitive human body doesn’t usually handle that kind of excessive stimulation. I can get excited just by staring at a tree while pondering the meaning of life. And besides, I had plans to spend the day with Kristin…I didn’t have time to freeze myself while speeding through the orchards on what my brain deemed to be merely a motorcycle for snow people.

But then, as I watched them from the warmth and safety of the house, that little (often annoying) voice kept saying ‘you just launched a blog with the purpose of encouraging others to be fully alive…to take opportunities to breathe in the fullness of life…to seek out new experiences in God and enjoy the adventure that comes from a relationship with Him’ –  and I knew what I had to do.

When the group came in for lunch, and Kristin’s husband John asked me for the 5th (at least) time if I wanted to go out for a ride, I said yes. I jumped on the back and held on for dear life.

In the slower times, it was easy to watch the scenery go by. It was easy to ‘pay attention to the circumstances’ and not be overwhelmed. But then John got to the end of a long clear path and said ‘Are you ready?! Hold on!’ and took off at 55 mph.

It was during those periods of higher speed that I quickly understood ‘taking thoughts captive’ (2 Cor 10:5) in a new way. Any time I thought about all the ‘what ifs’ – what if my hands suddenly got tired of holding on and I flew off the back, what if we hit a big bump and flip over, etc’ – I was ready to call it quits. But when I told those thoughts to go away and I simply focused on enjoying the ride, it was actually fun.

It may sound weird, but in those moments of  brisk air hitting my face while I bounced through the orchards on the back of a snowmobile, I knew I was experiencing much more than a ride in the natural. I didn’t fully understand it at the time, but God was leading me into a new season and this ride was a glimpse into my future and a teachable moment about faith and fully trusting Him.

If this isn’t your first time visiting my little plot of ‘land’ in cyber space, you’ve probably noticed it looks different. Today marks the official beginning of this new season in the Ready to Breathe adventure – I’m jumping on the back of God’s snowmobile. Just as I had to occasionally close my eyes, hold on, and trust John’s capable snowmobile skills, how much more can I trust the One who counts the stars and calls them by name? (Psalm 147:4)

Living in faith is closing our eyes to the natural circumstances, opening our eyes to the ‘unseen’/spirit and holding onto God, His word, His promises, and the knowledge that He IS a faithful and good Father.

I’ll be going more in depth in future blog posts about the vision and future of Ready to Breathe but as you may or may not see in the header (this new theme/design is still a work in progress!), the new tagline is ‘Living an abundant {naked, messy, adventurous} life as a CHILD of God’. I’m going all in.

I’m pressing into the abundant life of John 10:10. I want to cast off restraint and worship ‘with all my might’ as David did in 2 Samuel. I’m embracing and celebrating the ‘messy’ that is who I am – for God formed Adam and Eve from the dirt and called us ‘fearfully and wonderfully made.’ (Psalm 139). He isn’t afraid of our mess and instead is eager to ‘play in the mud’ with us in order to form beautiful things.

He came so that I can say ‘I AM A CHILD OF GOD’ (Galatians 4:7) and experience the unconditional love of a supernatural Father who delights in us and REJOICES over us with singing! (Zephaniah 3:17).

Life in God is an adventure. It’s full of twists and turns and moving out of our comfort zones to step into the fullness of Him. We weren’t created to be survivors who wake up in the morning just hoping to make it to the end of the day. We’re conquerors…actually, we’re MORE than conquerors according to Romans 8.

Today, I plant my proverbial flag in this new territory of life. I’m closing my eyes, holding onto God and am ready to breathe in His fresh presence as we speed off into all that He is.