In life we must put our faith in God and move forward, sometimes contrary to “evidence.”  Often the evidence is not as daunting as a brick wall; rather a feeling of being walled in.  I experienced just such a feeling on New Year’s Eve as the light dimmed.  I had been suffering for a couple of weeks with a  back injury so painful that it frequently made me cry out.  Those weeks were spent mostly in bed but that day my husband drove me to town do some errands.  It was a relief to be outside, surrounded by light and air.  I immediately thought of the desert, how wonderful it would be to spend New Year’s there.  But we had already canceled our plans to watch fireworks in San Francisco, an hour away, due to my injury.  Surely it would be crazy to think I could travel for seven hours?

Soon after, packed and with our dogs wildly anticipatory, we flew along 80.  As we wound into the Sierras, moonlight reflected off snow-covered mountains so brightly, we could see every tree.  At midnight we saw swirling red and blue fireworks above a lone home in a deep white valley.  Around three we arrived in Winnemucca where we checked into a motel.

On New Year’s Day we arose and drove up a snowy road toward an area where we would one day like to live.  There appears on the land yet, no building, well or fence; they exist in our dreams and our faith.   God was there to grace us, with beauty all around.  And I have not since cried out.