My family spends a week camping in Tahoe every year. I am currently driving home, and trying not to cry because we are leaving one of the only places I have ever been able to find peace, where I can- almost audibly- hear God reminding me of His love for me and to trust him.

This year, when we drove up, I felt like I could finally let out the breath I had been holding since I left last year. If you know my family, you know that this year has been hard. My mom shattered every bone in her ankle, and my entire family has been on the road to recovery since she had her first surgery. I started my first year of college, five hundred miles away, leaving my younger brother as the only one to take care of her. Summer should have been a welcome break, but I chose to take online courses, and had three jobs. It has been a stressful year, to say the least. Tahoe is where I am always able to find my rest, and this year was no different. The first moment I saw the lake, I released a breath that I hadn't realized I was holding. Whenever I saw the lake, I would let out a breath, and the knots in my shoulders would begin to untangle themselves. Each day, no matter where I was, I would, at some point, look up. It wasn't a volntary action, I would just happen to see the trees and my eyes would follow them to the sky, or see a bird flying by, and raise my gaze. That's all it takes. Just the simple act of looking up at the trees that surrounded me, and to see the utter strength and the beauty that was created specifically for me.

On my last day, I sat on the paddle board my family rented and looked around me. It occured to me that in a few months, this place I love would be covered in ice. I realized Tahoe has seasons, just like the ones I live through. Right now, I am in a season of waiting. As hard as it is for me to admit, I am in a place of waiting for God to tell me what to do, to call me to something that will set me afire for him. I can't tell you that I am fully on fire for God, or that I can feel Him everywhere I go, or that I am even ready to listen, and be with God. I am in a season of waiting. Waiting for rest, restoration, and for, as cheesy as it may be, a sign that He knows I am waiting. Which is why this week was so essential, and so well timed.

Wednesday night, I happened to look up during a time of worship with my church. As songs of praise filled the air, I finally saw what God wanted me to see. He brought me to Tahoe at that exact moment to see the sparkling sky. If anyone has ever been to Tahoe and done this exact same thing, you will know that the night sky is filled with diamonds, and those diamonds shine brighter than anywhere else (I might be biased to this specific place, in this specific camp site). The stars showed me of God's love. The night sky reminded me that God gave me a diamond, no he gave me countless diamonds to remind me of his love. Just as you do in a relationship, the diamond means the relationship is for real, that it's not gonna end any time soon, or ever. The diamond filled sky is a reminder of the fulfillment of God's promise made to Abraham, and is also a promise to each of us. In the seasons of waiting, the seasons of wanting, the seasons of feeling like you're holding you're breath because life is just getting to hard, God is there. Not only is he there, but he is also waiting. He is looking at you and waiting for you to just look up.

You see, God has created earth-as crazy and sinful as it may get- for those who inhabit it. It's so easy for me to get caught up in my life, to just "keep my head down" to stay out of drama, not to take a moment, to simply look up. To look up and remember the promise that God kept from so many years ago. Because He is unchanging, I know that he will keep his promise to me, and that he is faithful through every season. When we get caught up in why we aren't feeling Him, or just get tired of waiting, remember to look up. God is waiting for this one action to finally call you home. You see, the thing about God is that He is so head over heels in love with us that He wrote us a love letter that is scrawled throughout all of His creation. If we are to look up, we will find the most epic love letter ever written that will launch us into a love story so amazing that even Nicholas Sparks couldn't have imagined it.