A Gift

I am so thankful for today. I woke up this morning with the intention of going to work. Well...honestly, I woke up hoping that I would get called off. But, when that didn't happen by 5:10, I pulled myself out of bed with the intention of going to work. And, I did go...

But, as I arrived the charge nurse was in the process of realizing that she forgotten to assign one of the nurses that was scheduled to work today. Oops. That meant that there was an extra nurse, and since I have overtime this week, I was the one that needed to go back home...

...Which was interesting, since:

1. That never happens.
2. On my way to work, I had been thinking about the fact that I really needed to plan a day to get away and be quiet. I have known for a while now that my soul really needed a day of solitude. I was thinking that I wanted to go up into the mountains somewhere for the day - probably to a place called "Pretty Place" just north of Furman. I was also thinking that it was likely that I could get called off one of my shifts this week (since I have overtime), but the fact that we only get called off for 4 hours at a time (first until 11a, then until 3p, etc...) would not allow me to leave town.
3. The fact that I had already actually driven to work today meant that I would definitely be off for the whole day (and get paid 2 hours of drive time.)

So, as I headed back out the door, it seemed pretty clear to me that God was giving me my day of solitude. Now, my only problem was the weather...

I decided while I was driving back home that I was definitely going to take the day and head out of town. I did look at the weather forecast for the mountains (100% chance of rain/snow with temperatures in the 30's), but I had already decided that this was what I needed to do today, so I started praying that God would change the weather as I drove...

...Which didn't exactly happen. As I drove in silence, I kept asking God what He wanted to say to me today. I also kept wondering how this was going to work out, since it was snowing and I was really wanting to spend time outside...

I was still wondering that as I drove through Greenville (snowing more now) and continued heading toward the mountains. The snow wasn't sticking to the road, so driving was fine, but the sky was definitely gray and yucky and I was pretty positive that I wouldn't actually be able to see anything up there.

As I got close to Camp Greenville, though, this is what I saw:







It totally felt as though God had given me my own little "Winter Wonderland" to enjoy. The trees and the mountain were so beautiful. I couldn't help but be awed by the Creator of all these beautiful things, and be blessed by such a tangible picture of His Glory.

I didn't stay too long, but I did get out and walk around a little bit (in flip-flops of course):


Even though I wasn't able to make it up to Pretty Place (I turned around as soon as snow started collecting on the road), the Lord totally blessed me with the beauty of His Creation where I was. And it was such a gift!

(Today's other gifts included strawberry cake, coffee, and time to read at Coffee Underground in Greenville and a yummy dinner and conversation with my roommate Aimee!)