"TJ, I'm talking to you as I stand in Montana."

I was walking the trail near my house and enjoying the sun on my face and the anticipation of the upcoming road trip to Seattle. I was talking to TJ on the phone as he was seeding. It struck me as rather ridiculous and exciting that I was talking to him while he was seeding and he was only some miles away. How many hours had we talked while he seeded that I was in Michigan, two hours ahead and only able to imagine what it was that he was doing. Now here we were doing the same thing, but I now was on the same soil.

Crazy.

Sometimes I'll have this out-of-body experience and I see myself dating this super-cute farmer, living in my own little house, and working at this sweet library set in a small town with a view of the Rocky Mountains. Is this my life? Was that me that walked all through Shelby and delivered my resume and met random people? Were those my feet that walked the little town of Conrad after I put in my application at the Library and met the singer from the town's play, "Desperate Farm Wives" the night before? Is that my voice I hear introducing myself and telling my story? Do I have a story?

I hear the stories of many people that walk through the library doors. One married and moved from England to Montana when she was eighteen. She survived the Blitz. One has lived in three continents and many different states. One checked out that very book fifty years ago. One suffered cancer, one lost a child, one adopted two children. And on and on - people's lives amaze me.

When I drive home, the mountains behind me stand firm against the blue sky. Just before my car follows the road down into the river bottom, I turn my head to the left and can see TJ's home, lit up by a literal beam of sunlight while the plains around it are darkened by the clouds. Almost everyday, the same.

The gazelles in the road threaten me with their eyes till they recognize the speed and strength of the vehicle and dart away together without looking back. The cows straighten and all eye me without a muscle twitching - but the young calf jumps awkwardly on his legs and runs to his mother.

Is that me learning to dribble a ball and shoot a basket? That is one of TJ's and my favorite things to do at the gym now. We will play a couple of short games (one-on-one) then run and do some weights. His baskets count for one, mine for two. He shows me how to do a lay-up, I keep trying. He packs the ball, I throw it at him. I never realized how tiring short sprints are.

Oftentimes I look around my little home, and thank God for all of my blessings. Full cupboards, a close-knit church, hearing truth every Sunday morning and having a gathering of believers with whom I can fully worship the Lord. I have good people for my friends, a steady and faithful boyfriend, a good job, and seriously on and on. This is my story, and sometimes I don't understand why God has blessed me. Yet just now I remembered, and how cool is this! In Psalm 27 David prays, "lead me in a smooth path." I pray that almost every day and sometimes I've wondered what that means or looks like. Well this is what it looks like! There is no doubt that I am on a path, sometimes a very tricky one to walk, but look at the way God has provided for me! There is nothing that I have need of! There is no want. I have food and a roof and a beautiful kitchen and frozen chicken marinating and I just got to see my friend in Seattle and eat super good ice cream and drive eleven hours with my friend Kathleen and we talked and I have a Bible here and a devotional by Amy Carmichael. There's running water and I have a tea kettle and get this - tons of my favorite kinds of tea in my cupboard! There's even a mini garden growing in my office, a little budding branch that I picked from my tree in the backyard, sitting by my stove. My car is running so well. The battery was dead today and I couldn't get a hold of TJ, but my neighbor came over and in ten minutes it was solved. And he gave me a case of blueberries. Blueberry pancakes is on the menu. That's another thing, I have flour and can make bread any time I want to. How many people in this world have that privilege? My own washer and dryer in the basement. Most young adults, when they move away for the first time, have to go to a coin laundromat or share with their entire level. God is so good, and He could take away all of that - He could take away this smooth path and He would still be good. Because He doesn't show that He's good through the smooth path He gives us, that's a bonus, He proves that He is good because He hears. He hears when we cry out to Him, He hears when we praise Him. He is good and He knows exactly what I need so I will trust Him, whether I am in the valley of the shadow of death, or on a smooth path.