I love snow…always have. Now, I know there are many of you out there who think I am a little crazy. Snow means cold weather and bad roads and scraping your car windows and shoveling your sidewalk, etc., etc. I don’t particularly like those things either. But somehow, snow just makes it all worth it to me. I don’t know why exactly, but snow has this almost magical quality to me. Many of my favorite childhood memories revolve around snow. Building snowmen, forts, tunnels, having snowball fights and of course the best…sledding at my grandma’s and coming in to her hot chocolate to defrost. I loved it!
However, there is one memory concerning snow that stands out above the rest that took place when I was a teenager. A time in my life where I often felt out of place. I knew what I liked and what I didn’t. I knew what I stood for and what I was or wasn’t willing to do. I knew who I was and because of that, I thought I must be abnormal, strange, or perhaps weird. I felt like I was completely different than every other teenage girl I knew. I felt alone.
During those years, God had to reassure me a few times that I wasn’t alone and that being different wasn’t always a bad thing. He made me and He loved me the way I was. One of those divine moments happened on a clear, windless winter night. A nice layer of snow lay on the ground and it was just the right temperature that when I put on my ugly brown coveralls, hat and gloves I was quite comfortable. I don’t remember the exact reason I decided to don the winter apparel and go outside at night, but I did and ended up walking to the field across the road where up until then the snow had been untouched. It looked like the perfect spot to lay down and look at the stars, which is exactly what I did. And while resting on the pure white snow and gazing at the beautiful star-studded sky I felt the nearness of God and felt He was reaching out to me in love to show me I am important to Him. That I night, I felt true peace.
Lately, I have been craving that feeling of peace. I once again am at a point in my life where I often feel out of place and different than everyone else. I often feel alone, even when surrounded by others. I have felt left behind while everyone else seems to have figured out their place in society and I am completely confused about where I belong. I still have these feelings and lots of questions about what’s in store for my life…but when I woke up the other morning to snow on the ground, and again when I saw huge flakes falling outside just now, I was reminded of that night several years ago. I was reminded of the message I heard loud and clear from God, I am His and I am important to Him. He has a plan for me and I must trust Him to guide me safely into what He has in store.
