I grew up and spent the first twenty-four years of my life in a very small town in central Pennsylvania called Clearfield. Now that I've seen and experienced different parts of the United States and even different parts of Pennsylvania, I'd consider my hometown to be countryish. We had driveways and parking lots...the only place we parallel parked was in town and we didn't even do that. If you drove around the block a time or two eventually you'd come across a parking spot you could just pull into. Our houses were all single homes. If there was more than one unit in a home it was considered a duplex that was owned by one person and rented to multiple families. To think that two people would own the same physical home was completely absurd to me. And townhomes or condos.... who would want to own what I would consider an apartment? We didn't have them either. The smallest apartment I'd ever come across was a one bedroom... I had never heard of an efficiency apartment or a studio. We didn't have big apartment buildings either, at most we would have a house that was turned into two or three apartments. We all had big yards and there were small hometown stores and family owned businesses. There were farms with cows and chickens, and corn fields. I learned to drive on back roads that were made of dirt. We would spend our weekends along the river banks in a man made camping spot where we would cook on a campfire, go four wheeler riding, and swim in the river after making a dam that would deepen the water. Life here was slower paced and we enjoyed the little things in life. 

Early in my adult years I moved to the Philadelphia suburbs which were the complete opposite of everything I'd ever known. At first I lived in the heart of the ghetto and later moved to the nicer areas, yet I still yearned for that hometown feel. As years passed I grew accustomed to my surroundings and life became fast paced. I easily got so caught up in the day to day hustle and bustle of things that I didn't take time to pay attention to the small things. When I moved to Florida, the same applied. I was living in the Destin area which is a huge tourist attraction. 

The area I live in now, is very much country. There's a lot of open land and wide open spaces. I remember how reluctant I once was to move here...until I began to realize this was where I was being called to. Just days prior to my realization, I had a conversation and I was saying, nope I'm not living in the country, you're not going to find me barefoot raising children on a farm. But then...my heart softened and I realized more and more every day that just may be what God has in store for me. 

I've been speaking with a friend of mine about hearing God speak and differentiating to know when it's actually him or someone else. As I was reflecting on some scriptures last night regarding that, I came across Psalm 37:7 - Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Psalm 46:10 tells us to Be still and know that I am God. In that moment, I realized that more often than not, I'm not still. There are so many distractions that make it hard to be still. 

This morning I had some time between dropping one customer off and picking up the next. I found a park along my path and decided to pull over and eat the breakfast I had bought while passing time. As I sat in in the peacefulness and quiet I thought about the beauty surrounding me and the beauty of that moment. I was reminded of my days of traveling while working at the software company. I would go sight seeing everywhere I went and I would take lots of photos to capture the moments so I could reflect on them later or share them with my loved ones. It had been a long time since I actually took pictures. As I continued along my journey I began to snap some photos and bask in the beauty surrounding me. I was brought into remembrance of my hometown roots and once again began to appreciate the stillness. I remembered how I longed for this at one point. 

As the day progressed I began to see the vision of a future here where God has planted me...doing so much more than driving a taxi. I am grateful I came across that scripture, not only to help me get into His presence but also to remind me to slow down and enjoy the stillness. 

We often get caught up in so many things throughout the day that weeks pass before our eyes without us realizing where the time went. I encourage you to take some time to be still and as you do, be open to your thoughts, be open to the voice of God. He's always speaking to us, but often we are too busy and too distracted to listen. 

I love you and I pray this has blessed you in some way.  If you'd like to receive new blog post notifications you can subscribe. If you'd like to leave a prayer request or a testimony please feel free to do so.

May God bless you!

Much love,

Holly W <3