Determination

"For when trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy! For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.  So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed you will be strong in character and ready for anything."  James 1:2-4 NLT

God made Emma with one of the sweetest and most empathetic hearts ever.  He also gave her determination....one that she exhibited in fleeting glimpses.  I have been remembering other times in her life that give me visual representation of that determination  I knew was present in her heart, but now as she faces this journey, she is showing us proof , on a daily basis, how that DETERMINATION is there and it grows stronger and stronger.   

Our family spent many years traveling to a place called Sand Mountain in the salt flats of Nevada.  It's a true God created location and unusual natural wonder.  It is a mountain of white sand......rising up out of dry lake bed. Adventure seekers who appreciate the motorized source of recreation, travel there with their trucks, RV's, quads, sand rails and motorcycles to camp at the bottom of this mountain and....RIDE.

Waking up on the first morning

Joseph 8, Emma 6, Ben 4 years old

Joseph, Gavin and Delaney

Miss Emma Kait

Jon, Robb and Ben ready to ride

Top of the Mountain

God's glory never changes, his mercies are new every morning

Garrett and Jon at one of Jon's favorite places in the world-on the edge of the mountain

We spent about five years traveling there twice a year and spending a long weekend with wonderful family friends, many gallons of fuel, endless piles of sand, circles of kids playing around bonfires, and few quiet nights, feeding the husband's and kid's need for speed.  We all loved it.  It defined a more carefree time of our life....in many ways. 

There is a series of photos of Emma that keep coming to my mind.  She was 6 years old.  They tell a story.....a little girl....the only girl in our extended family at that time....surrounded by boys.....proving to herself that she could keep up......getting stuck.......having a challenge.........proving to herself and others.......she had determination.....

We never knew this was a glimpse into her future.  A future that would require this kind of determination for her journey.  The kind of journey that reaches above your head, bigger than your body, heavier than your strength, more daunting than your life experience, more mature than your age, but one that you rely not on your own determination or strength, but on God's alone.

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.  

2 Corinthians 12:9