to maine and beyond

A friend invited me to come to Maine recently and I went for 2 weeks - I stayed with her and her husband -who has built a beautiful home in Ellsworth, Maine - near Bar Harbour. I have had it on my heart to go to Bar Harbour, Maine for about 4 years and now that my daughter was going off to college I would have a chance to go. The trip seemed to be a huge risk for me to take... but as things lined up so that I could take the trip... I realised that God wanted to show me something.

I accepted her invitation without hesitation - but after I hung up the phone I thought, I shouldn't do this. I just lost a job a month prior and already had financial difficulties. When I got home that day a neighbor who lives in Boston had returned to Pennsylvania for a visit. I told her I was thinking about going to Maine and she suggested that I come to Boston and stay with her.

This was a half way point on the way to Maine and would help me to make the trip. I thought, maybe I should do this. Two days later, I was at my church where there was a sign up sheet to volunteer locally. I was getting ready to sign up to volunteer when a woman who I did not know asked me what days I would be available to volunteer.

I told her I was not sure because I was also thinking about going to visit a friend in Maine. The woman looked at me and said "Oh! I love Maine, you should go!" She then asked her husband to go out to their car and get their easy pass. She wanted to give it to me.

I was surprised that someone that I did not know decided to help me and provide a way for me to take this trip without any tolls!! I was amazed and that was the green light that made me think... I really should go to Maine.

I let my friends know that I was going to Maine and one of my dearest friends who is Canadian told me that if I was going that far - I should go to visit her mom who lives in New Brunswick, Canada!

The trip was meaningful for me in a lot of ways... and God basically took me there - all the way to Maine and beyond to show me how much he loves me. The first night I was there my friend gave me a book that was titled "Those who trust in the Lord, shall not be disappointed."

Trust in the Lord!!

I was so touched by this book that it has become my "themesong" now for several weeks and the message is that God's word for us can either be a foundation stone or a rock of stumbling.
(You can find the scripture in: I Peter 2:6-8)

It is a confession for me to tell you that I have been disappointed with life and how things have gone so far. At the same time I like who I have become and pray that I get even better with time. I do dwell sometimes in a place called sadness and disappointment - so this scripture clearly was meant for me.

I tend to balance those feelings with a flipside of positive whimsy and believing for God's divine intervention and goodness - but my weakness is that I have fear that all that I have had that is good has been taken away or given away to someone more deserving. These feelings are a result of my own stumbling - and God is redeeming a spirit of faith in me - giving me a dependence on him and his holy ways.

God took me on this trip to show me that he has something greater in the works than my own plan. God has always provided for me and protected me - he gives me reminders that speak a to me a truth beyond measure that he is with me.

God is with us. Remember? His name is Immanuel! I have been given this word telling my spirit to Trust in the Lord - so I am sharing this word with you!

My time in Maine was special allowing me to spend time with a friend who was preparing to have her 3rd child, it allowed me to spend some time alone going hiking in Acadia National Park and also go swimming in a beautiful lake. I posted on facebook that I was loving my time in Maine and a friend from my hometown in Hampton, Virginia responded telling me that he and his girlfriend were also in Ellsworth at the same time! We were able to get together for lunch one day ... and I believe we were both amazed at God's timing.

This whole trip was about turning disappointment into divine appointment.

I was not sure that I would go to Canada - I did not even have a passport with me! I was allowed into the country with a driver's license and a birth certificate - but on my way back into the U.S. - I was told that I would need a passport if I traveled across borders again.

In Canada I visited a place called the Bay of Fundy where the high tides create beautiful natural rock formations that include caves in the sides of mountains - that I was able to inside and explore. I was so amazed because I had no idea that these even existed - it was like God wanted to show me something "over the top."

So my trip to Maine and beyond was a trip of faith and I was not disappointed.