Dad and I have been road tripping hard and we’re pretty much exhausted.  We’re settled in for the evening with one more day of travel left tomorrow.

We’re getting closer to the time when Dad has to fly back to Oklahoma, and I won’t lie–I’m having a hard time with that!  It’s been such a fun trip and it’s hard to think about him flying back home.  Part of me wants to jump on the plane and fly back with him.  But I know there are great things in store for me this summer, and I’m ready and excited to see how it unfolds.

There’s no doubt about it, my dad is my best bud and it’s been so much fun doing this road trip with him.  He’s a dreamer like me, and we’ve been getting lost in the gorgeous landscape together.  Plus, he’s super fun to take a selfie with!

With two days of travel, there has been plenty of time for reflection.  I’ve been thinking back to January 1st of this year.  I woke up that morning with a provoking thought: I am free. 

Within the past couple of months, God has reinforced that idea through different situations in my life.  He’s taught me the powerful truth:

We are born to run.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.

We are not who we think we are.

We are free.

It has been so cool to see how this message of freedom has been displayed even through this road trip.

From the vastness of Northwest Texas to the humble, hometown beauty of New Mexico, I wanted to run and roam.  You could feel the openness inside you; my soul looking out at this landscape and saying, “Yes.  This is what I am made for.”  I was reminded of my prayer:  Lord, I am open.

We made it into Colorado and I was blown away by the majesty of the mountains.  It quickly became clear that our pictures couldn’t do it justice.  I’ve realized: the earth is a living beauty.  Our camera capture snapshots, making still what has been created to move and breathe.  Much like us.  The earth is free.  We are free.

 

 

 

And then we got into Wyoming, and I found myself in this reverent stunted awe, my soul weeping love for God’s moving earth.  I could not take my eyes off the scenery that expanded before me.  Stretching for miles and miles, we saw something new around every bend.  As soon as we caught our breath, it was stolen from us again.  There is no way to deny the truth:

The very earth reveals God’s story of freedom, and divinity’s freedom beat explodes in the open, changing landscape of Wyoming.

 

There’s no way I can look at this earth and say that God’s plan for us is anything less that beauty and freedom.  If we are still, we can clearly see and feel God’s heart toward us just by looking around us.  I once told God, “If you love me, spell it out in the sky for me!”

 

 

 

It turns out he did.