One of my absolute favorite traditions that Tony and I have is to have a valentine's day getaway.
Since we have married we have been on a kick to visit as many of the national parks.
And this year was no different.
Since Tony and I have been working on a financial makeover- my lofty dream of visiting the national parks in Hawaii, California, or Florida were quickly vetoed and we decided on the Smoky Mountains instead. And I am so glad we did.
We dropped off Zoey at my parents and headed down. I LOVE road tripping with Tony. Some of our best conversations and important decisions have happened on long road trips.
After seeing that a majority of the roads through the mountains were closed, we decided to go exploring and found a treasure of a hiking trail....
Which led us to a waterfall....
Unfortunately the weather only cooperated for a little while and it soon became extremely windy and it wasn't safe on the trails any longer. We preoccupied our time with other things...
Hide and Seek.... and charades.
We added to our collection of Jr. Ranger badges as well....
All in all we had a good time.
The place we stayed overlooked the mountains. A huge storm blew in and Tony and I sat and watched the clouds roll in....
It felt amazing to just be still with Tony. So often I take for granted the intimacy it requires to be still with a person but yet still fully present. There are so many things I don't have to say in those moments because Tony knows what I am thinking already. This happens so often when we are studying the Bible together or praying. We will come across a verse that hits me right in the heart and Tony will smile or grab my arm and give me time to let me savor the words.
One of these such verses was John 11:4
But when Jesus heard it he said, "This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified though it."
For those of you who don't know, since the death of our son we have discovered that I have a blood disorder. I have been bouncing around to doctors, getting ALOT of blood drawn, and on a full treatment plan that requires a good amount of energy.
We have been so busy with trying to "fix" so many things instead of just being still and trusting. I so easily go into survival mode and want to solve the problem instead of trusting. Just trusting. I know in my head that I am here for God's glory, and that he uses all things for the good of those who love him- but for the first time I am really beginning to feel what it means to "count it all joy" when you are smack dab in the middle of a trial.
That is the craziest thing of all to me. Both Tony and I have joy. We have many tears still- and lots of questions- but have joy. If that is not evidence of the Holy Spirit at work, I don't know what is.
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