Canoeing Aventures

This afternoon I decided to get a little adventurous (Chris would be proud), and take my first canoe ride ever. I was at Little Madawaska Lake at Cale's parents camp and Taylor, Tyler and Nick decided they wanted to chase Issac across the lake...in canoes. I was asked to come along and since it seemed somewhat adventurous, I agreed.

I love how the Lord puts us in places and allows divine appointments, conversations and opportunities to praise His name, testify of His love, mercy & grace and just fellowship with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Taylor and I set out on our canoe, racing Nick and Tyler, which we soon found rather useless (they were WAY faster & my paddle broke), so we just settled into a leisurely pace and started to talk about Biblical femininity/masculinity, life, and God's moving over the past span of time.

Riding in the front of the canoe, keeping conversation was an enjoyable thing, but not my focus. In front of me was a huge lake, endless, so it seemed, of wavy waters, and then it started to rain......I was so overjoyed with the Lord's goodness raining down on me I hardly knew what to do. There I was in the middle of a lake, in a canoe, with no life vest, no desire to swim, and a gigantic wooden paddle in my hands pushing my way through the water. God is so good. The very thought of getting soaked without flipping the canoe, made me chuckle. Taylor and I decided to pass our time praising the Lord, so we sang.

Paddling through a lake, in a canoe, getting soaked by the rain and singing. WOW!

The guys decided to steer into a strange swampy, branchy looking area and my thoughts of this adventure started getting sketchy. We came to a little dam in the lake and the current picked up a bit and trickled into a river that went somewhere around a bend we couldn't see, surrounded by trees. Now had I been with girls we would've been content to turn around at the swamy looking thing, enjoy the view and rain and paddle back to the camp. Then it hit me, I was way out numbered 4-1.....so we loaded the canoes into the quickened water from the dam and headed down the stream. We paddled for a long, long time, but it was beautiful. We ended up in a beaver pond, got stuck a few times and ran into a few trees on the bank. I realized that God is always calling us to places that require us to step aside, humble ourselves and give Him control, take His hand and just Go. I have to trust the Lord with everything...my future husband, career, family and even little things like money and canoe rides down strange hidden rivers.

On the journey back, I had a very encouraging talk with my canoe-buddy and just enjoyed being blessed by the Lord's promises. God is good, and sometimes He gives us courage to step into a canoe, get soaked by rain and adventure down a stream of uncertain ends. We never know what's around the bend when God is in control, and that's okay...because the less we know about what is to come, the greater the surprise, the more breathtaking the scene, the more meaningful and lifechanging the adventure.

I just love overflowing joy!!!! Laugh friends and next time it rains, head outside and be blessed!
" Let it rain, let it rain, open the floodgates of Heaven..."

"But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit. " -Jeremiah 17:7-8