Happy One Year

One year

I created Primitive Roads and wrote my first post one year ago today. Not coincidentally, Tim and I also began our three day drive to Idaho one year ago today.  The driving force behind starting this blog was the next chapter beginning in my life. Tim and I were four months married and leaving behind family and friends to start a new life in Idaho.

The road during the last year has certainly been primitive, for me anyways. Potholes, gravel, and some unforeseen curves have made me stumble, but like I said in that first post:

God has proven a trustworthy author thus far, so, in faith, the pages continue to turn.  A new chapter for Team Gardner begins tomorrow morning!

God wrote a lot of transition into our first year in Idaho.  I am thankful that God’s mercies are new every morning as He continues to write our story.

The plot continues to thicken. If I thought our first year in Idaho was full of firsts, I think the beginning of our second year already has it beat. We bought our first house and are expecting our first child in February!

Primitive Roads has been a safe place for me to share how God is working in my heart during the past year and I pray it continues to be a space of honesty and vulnerability in the year ahead. I appreciate your support and encouragement, fellow journeymen!

Since we are surrounded by so many examples of faith, let us follow their lead, laying aside every burden and sin that weighs us down, and let us run the race with perseverance and strength, keeping our focus on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…

Hebrews 12:1-2 (ESV with Emily edits)

Here’s to year two!

{photo credit: orangesparrow via photopin cc}

Friend {Five Minute Friday}

Seasons in Friendship

I’m just beginning to understand the multifaceted concept of seasons.

After 26 years, I can see the mini-seasons that have already come and gone in my life. I entered into a new season – marriage – almost a year ago and know there are plenty more ahead. Though I don’t adapt as well as I’d like to the transition between seasons, I am starting to see the beauty and nuances of each one as it molds and shapes my life for a time.

I’d like to say I’ve totally embraced all of the seasons in Idaho, but Winter still challenges me a bit. Fall brings riotous color and crisp air. Winter has freshly fallen snow and Christmas. Spring is glorious with its new growth and blooming trees. Summer is full of sun!

Transitioning from high school to college, back home to on my own, single to married has taught me that friendship is also seasonal. Forever friends do exist. I’m fortunate enough to still be good friends with my grade-school best friend, but that’s not the case for all of my friendships.

I look back over the past 10 years and marvel at the amazing people God has placed in my path. Friendships were formed over coffee, in foreign countries, at the cafeteria table, in Bible studies. Some lasted for years, others only months.

It took me a while to realize that was okay. Each of those people held a ray of hope, love, and joy for me when I needed it most.

Instead of mourning the reasons those friendships have gone dormant, I see the beauty of each season, the special purpose of each relationship. Friends should be cherished with open hands and a heart willing to see them change with the seasons.

~~~

Linking up with Lisa-Jo Baker for Five Minute Friday