My vacation with my family was wonderful. I had a lot of great things that happened over the vacation and I had precious friends venture out to meet up with me. Through it, a lot of things happened. I was looking really forward to coming home for multiple reasons and one of them being the fact that I could reconnect which the hometown I grew up as a child. It helped inspire me with the story. And speaking of my writing, I have continued and the pace is much faster now. 

Also speaking of my writing, there was a time when I decided to give all of it to God during the trip. I have a special connection to the story of Jericho and the seven walk. I did a seven walk when I first dated my to be husband. I did a seven walk my junior year of college with God because I wanted to learn more. My husband and I have grown a lot together and I believe the seven walk, which means we walked around the land seven times so that our "Jericho" could fall down, was always a reminder to keep trying. When I did the seven walk with God, as a junior, I went over the problems I had with my relationship with Him. The things I missed and the things I wasn't happy with that I wanted to work on and the things I was happy with. God began to show me deeper lessons through scripture and even in my dreams. 

The seven walk simply means that we are willing to face the difficulties that we have in life. When I was home, I wanted to do the walk again. I wanted to give God my story because it means a lot. I want Him to be glorified and I want Him to be able to reach others through it. So in the symbolism that has always been part of my relationship with Him I walked around the church 12 times. 

Each time I focused on a particular word such as faith, humility, trials, tribulation, joy, cleansing etc. These words I have chosen from before. My story has a connection to the 14 terms I came up with in representing a relationship with God. Thus, I wanted to give it back to Him. However, the walk around the land was a little more difficult than what I had expected. 

At first when I arrived, there were really dark clouds. I asked God to give me sunshine to start the walk. Within five minutes, the clouds were gone and the sunlight lit up the area. I did not bring water with me and I had not ate just yet that day. As I walked around with my stomach grumbling, I said the scripture "Man cannot live by bread alone." At the same time I said this scripture, my thoughts became calm. 

You see, I had been thinking I would not be able to do the walk. It was too long. I had no water. I had no food. The sun was very hot and I was definitely getting a tan. But after I said that scripture, I realized it was the same scripture Jesus said to Satan when Satan was tempting Him. Matthew 4:3-4 "And the tempter came and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." But He answered and said, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.'" "

I was definitely being tempted with quitting. I was being pushed with becoming tired. It was a lot longer than seven walks around. But always throughout my life, God has been very symbolic. He's reached me through symbolism a lot. At the same time, I reach Him with symbolism. I think I was on walk 8 or 9 when I was focusing on the word faith. It will take faith for me to continue to write and trust God that He will provide the words and the lessons for me and future readers. It will take faith for me to trust God, no matter what happens in my life. 

During this round of walking, there was a bird that I believe was a falcon or hawk maybe (yeah I'm not really sure). But he was flying just ahead of me. Whenever I turned (because the way i was walking was in the shape of a rectangle) the bird would turn the same direction and always remain just ahead of me. I thought of the scripture  "there the eagles will be gathered" and then just as I was finishing up the walk of faith to start another one, the walk of tribulation, my iPod starting playing the song "Faith is hard to find" by Skillet. And then when I looked up to see the bird flying ahead of me, I saw on the power line there were three other birds. And all of them were doves. 

I really felt that God was listening to me and that He was hearing me. During the walk, I had asked Him to walk with me. In as much as I try to give God symbolism through jokes or writing, He always outdoes me. And I'm perfectly okay with that. :) 

Originally I was planning on walking 14 times around but the area in the story and in real life that represent 13 and 14 it's one piece and it's why the two words are rejubilation and unity. It's together as one. When I was finishing up walk 11, the clouds were really rolling in and I knew I would not be able to do 14 times. But then I realized the importance of 13 and 14 being together and I told God that would represent the way I drove home. A final connecting conclusion to the walk. So I only had one more round to walk. I told God that as long as I did not see lightning I would finish the walk. 

It was sprinkling about halfway and then the final half it started to rain more. The wind was blowing and I did hear thunder. But I never saw lightning. And by that time, the rain was so refreshing, as well as the wind. And as I finished my final walk, I told God that life and trials are just like that. We must go through the wind and rain to see Him. And He can teach us that even when things are hard... that it will be okay in the end. 

My walk around the land reminded me with writing and life that as a believer I need to keep pushing through. And that no matter how hard it seems, whenever I am at my breaking point God will always provide just a little bit of refreshment to keep pushing me. And even if I do not immediately see or feel that, I need to push my relationship at Him so that I can see Him more clearly. He promises that He will not allow our ankle to stumble but we must also keep our promise that we stay near to Him so we won't stumble. Psalm 37:24 "though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand."