At crucial points in my faith journey, I have found places – physical places of special beauty – for deep prayer and contemplation.  As a child just discovering God’s love in an emotionally unstable home, I spent many hours on a rock across the street from my house, overlooking a mountain pass. I met God there in rain and snow, storm and thunder, gentle breezes and warm sunshine. His companionship in that place kept and comforted me.

As a teenager, I met Him at the creek and meadow of the local camp where I worked.  It is there I discovered His words to me through the Bible and read them with a hunger and need that still lingers to this day.

In college, I would leave my dorm in the damp dew of early mornings to seek Him by the ocean as the sunrise painted a silent trail to my hidden spot on the bluff.

As a new mom, frustrated and exhausted, I would head outside to lift my eyes to the mountains, from where my help always came.

And now, He meets me in the lakes and woods of northern Minnesota. I’ve decided to share some of the trail markers He’s using to point me toward heaven. I hope they encourage you to find yours as well.