Our Stories
A Few Thoughts
By Kelly Humphreys | posted 07/29/2010
"For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: 'I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God and they will be my people.'" (2 Corinthians 6:16b)
A couple of thoughts as my one-year anniversary of living in the Pacific Northwest and being part of the Creekside community arrives next week...
This past year has been one of the best and one of the most challenging of my life. Doug and I have felt really welcomed by Creekside and have made some good friends. Looking back over the year, I see that each season for me had an overarching focus (sometimes overlapping). The fall was pretty busy: we did the 24-Hour Time of Prayer, I went to the Covenant Women's Conference with a group of Creekside women, Doug and I went to a Pastor/Spouse retreat, and then I hosted the women's Christmas party in our home. In the New Year, my focus was on spiritual discipline: I joined a group of Creeksiders who read the entire Bible through quickly, like a story (I took four months, some others took three). During the Lenten season, Doug and I along with our daughter Alison abstained from drinking anything besides water, which for me took some doing. The spring the 24-Hour Time of Prayer was another focus for me, and then after that I started training for the breast cancer three-day walk with Jenean and others. I also periodically wrote Creekside FYI articles, with such themes as living water, wisdom, kingdom moments and community (which I inadvertently wrote on twice – I really, really like community!). All these things, as well as being on the Creekside prayer team, speaking, taking the Servant Mission School classes, being part of a terrific women's Bible study, and meeting a whole lot of excellent people at Creekside, made the year a great one for me. I enjoyed seeing some of my relatives in Salem, Oregon a few times, only a three-and-a-half hour drive from here. (I am so glad I was a part of my uncle and aunt's 50th anniversary recently.) I love the gorgeous scenery around here, and have been on numerous hikes. I even like the weather year-round, go figure, as it reminds me of my growing-up years in Oregon.
The year was also one of the most challenging, mostly because our then-17-year-old daughter stayed in Southern California with friends, to finish up her senior year in high school (although she did come home for a week or two). I missed her a lot, and was torn about whether she should have moved up here with us, even as I realized it was good for her to stay there. (I did enjoy our son living with us until May, when he moved back down to the San Diego area. And I am glad to see our older daughter, who is coming to visit before she goes back to her school in Arizona.) But for the most part, this is a new season in our marriage, having mostly an empty nest. This can be challenging but also is extremely rewarding.
As I look back on all of these things, I realize that even in the midst of the challenging things, God was right there with me. I love growing, not being stagnant, and I feel that I grew closer to God this past year in my walk with him. And I wonder...
Jesus and his disciples did a lot of walking. That was their primary mode of transportation. I wonder, were the disciples affected more by the miracles Jesus did, or by Jesus himself, day after day? I am guessing it was his presence with them that impacted their lives more. And then after they were shown his great example, his love, including his miracles, he sent them out two by two to spread the good news about his kingdom, and to heal the sick, without his physical presence. When they came back, he was overjoyed in all God had done through them. I want Jesus to be overjoyed in what God is doing through me.
I wonder, even as I am doing a lot of walking, training for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk for the Cure in September, at the fact that God is walking with me. I am hoping that I can learn something from him as I spend time walking. On the day that I write this, I spent the morning walking 14 miles, the last few of which were extremely hard as my feet started to hurt a lot, and the weather was quite warm. I wonder if Jesus' and his disciples' feet hurt as well. Their feet probably were much more calloused, but I think all of that walking fatigued their feet. The first thing people did as they came into someone's home was to wash the dust off their feet. My first thing coming home tonight was to soak my feet as I took a bath. (I think I need new shoes. Or maybe new feet.)
But in any case, that was my year, for the most part. How's your year been so far? Sometimes it's good to take stock, especially when it is not expected, like in the New Year. How is your walk going?
Kelly can be reached via email.
