Discovering My Trail Name

A breath of fresh, brisk morning air overlooking an incredible sunrise from the mountaintop was the start to an amazing October weekend. I’ve spent a good portion of my free time exploring God’s creation over the past year, but this particular trip ranked somewhere between breathtaking and overwhelming. I made a quick escape to Tennessee for the weekend where I stayed in a hostel for through-hikers right off of the Appalachian Trail. The form I received upon checking in asked for my trail name. Having not been very familiar with the hiker’s culture thanks to Ohio’s lack of mountainous terrain, I left the line as blank as my mind was in that moment. I figured the host could just call me Madison. As I met some of the through-hikers throughout the night, I was drawn in by the stories that led to each of their unique trail names. Many of them were associated with a big memory from their first wilderness trip. Some were simply a more pronounced characteristic or personality, and others a name some friends had created for them. One man tried to give me the trail name of “Shy Girl”. I was quick to veto that. 

So why was this weekend with a campground full of strangers one of the highlights from my year? I returned home completely overwhelmed by God’s presence. Leading into the weekend, I found myself a little nervous. Not because I was sleeping in the dark surrounded by some creepy crawlies or even because I didn’t know anyone at the camp. I was nervous of what a weekend of hiking with me, myself, and I would result in. We, as humans, are so quick to bunny trail down thoughts that we create in the first place. We spend so much time walking through every scenario in our head. What if I had…? What if I don’t do…? What if I would’ve said…instead of …? I spent over twelve hours walking the trails over two days, but not once did I bunny trail down these dangerous paths of thought. Instead, I reflected on my life walking through many of the experiences that actually happened rather than dwelling on the what ifs of life.

Overall, this past year has been my best adventure yet. If someone would’ve told me one year ago that I would be where I am today, I would’ve said, “There’s no way” without a second of hesitation. In relocating almost exactly one year ago, I decided to do some reprioritizing. Throughout my four years of college I had visited many churches, but it wasn’t until half way through my senior year that I found a church to call my home. At that point, it was surely too late to get invested in the church when I would soon be graduating and therefore leaving the area. Before I even packed my bags for the move to North Carolina, I began Googling churches in the area. I told myself that a key element in this goal of reprioritization was going to be finding a church home as soon as possible. This changed my entire experience of a fresh start. Instead of finding a social life and friends first, as I had done in the past, I found my church first. Instead of squeezing God into the empty slots on my schedule, I blacked out His spot and filled the gaps with my social life. It doesn’t stop there. As a result of this approach, my social life changed too. Within my first week here, I began attending a Life Group where I was able to create new friendships. I was later presented an opportunity to begin teaching a Sunday school class of four-and-five-year-olds. Not even two months into my time here I had been asked to be the nurse on a weekend retreat for middle and high schoolers. Six months later I found myself as a leader on a student mission trip to Costa Rica. That sure escalated quickly. 

Door after door of opportunity has opened right before my very eyes. I hope to share some of these experiences in detail through future posts, but for now we will focus on the here and now. Many times throughout this year, I have been reminded that God will provide EVERYTHING that we need to fulfill His will for our lives. He will provide the tools as long as we are willing to and striving to follow His lead. I have never recognized or appreciated this in my life to the extent that I do sitting here today. Since the mission trip I went on back in July, God has so clearly laid each piece of the puzzle at my feet to lead a team back to Costa Rica in the beginning of March. I have never so directly felt like the hands and feet of God. 

I will be working the last three shifts at my current job this week and will then be leaving for Costa Rica just five days later. Over the following month I will have the chance to immerse in the culture, visualize the communities, stand in awe of Gods beautiful creation, dive into His word, spend time with the locals, and most importantly, extend God’s love through every encounter along the way. An amazing team of friends will be flying down to join me for a little over a week. In this time, we will be extending Gods love through our actions with a main focus on an unreached people group near the Nicaraguan border. Originally, the vision for this team was aimed towards the construction of the village church as it is nearing completion. However, the unique group of individuals that have been brought together for this trip bring other gifts and talents to the table. After much prayer, our vision has been slightly rerouted. Half of the team will continue forward with the original plans of construction. The other half of the team, on the other hand, will now be leading a first-aid training as well as a vacation Bible school in the village. With four nurses on the team, we feel as though God has provided us with an opportunity to educate the population on some basic first-aid techniques. We have been collecting some supplies and plan to create a few medical kits to keep in the village. During our time there, we will demonstrate proper care of a variety of injuries in hopes that a handful of individuals will become the villages “first-aid team” and that they will be left with a hefty stock of supplies. We have also found a series of picture story books that are in both Spanish and English, for instance Noah’s Ark, David and the Giant, and Jonah and the Big Fish. These books will serve as the basis of our vacation Bible school for the kids, to which we will have associated crafts and activities. I have no doubt that the gaps of free time will quickly be filled with some friendly soccer matches, for which I will be packing WD-40 for my joints!  

Our Spanish may not be perfect, but we are capable of speaking the universal language of love. In John 13:34 and 35 Jesus says, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” This is our vision. No matter what each member is directly working on, whether it be the construction, first-aid training, or Bible school, our purpose is simply to display love. We will strive to exemplify the love that God has so freely lavished upon us. I am so excited to continue to sit back and watch Gods plan for this team unfold. I am eager for each individual to discover their purpose on this trip and to witness the impact of every interaction that has already been scheduled. Please join us in praying for this journey. Pray for the hearts of our team, as well as the hearts of those we will be reaching. Pray for our safety in the air and on the ground. Pray for God to continue to guide us and our vision as a team. If you are spiritually joining us on this adventure, I would love to know. If you would like to be involved on this trip in other ways, such as financially or through the direct purchase of supplies, please let me know and I will let you know what steps to take next! If at any time you would like to support me, whether it be on this trip or in future missions, again please reach out and we can discuss that avenue as well. It has been so overwhelming to reflect on the people God has brought into my life. He has provided me with such an incredible support system, many of whom I now consider family, and I am confident that this is only the beginning. When we are willing mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually He will use us and even more so, he will provide everything we need to follow His calling on our lives. 

We all have a story. The tricky part is summarizing that story in a trail name. When I return to the hostel someday, I’ll be prepared to fill out my form when I check in.  

Trail name: Wandering Light