Ladies Wilderness Trip ... #2

Tuesday … Solo Day! What a great day this was!

We started off the day with a bacon and pancake breakfast over the fire. Yum! Scott was our cook for the week and did a fabulous job. All the meals were delicious.

Soon after breakfast each of us got into a canoe and were taken to a place to spend time with God for the day. I knew that this day was coming and was so looking forward to it. 

There was no portaging or canoeing, only time with God … a much needed day of rest. I was dropped off at a campsite around the bend. It was a beautiful spot to spend time with God. I had lots of sun and lots of shade.

My day was great! I was able to spend some time relaxing in the warm sun. I even took a nap in the shade. This was wonderful. There’s nothing like lying on the ground in the shade, in the quietness of God creation and resting in Him. So refreshing.  I spent some time working on the bible memory that I needed to have done by the end of the week so that I could get a shower. (We needed to have it memorized and quoted so we could get a shower before leaving for home!) I also spent some time in communication with the Father. At the end of the day I spent some time journaling.

My view on Solo Day

On occasion I like to evaluate myself on where I am in different areas of my life. Those areas are physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. I took a look at these areas on this day and God pointed out to me that I’m lacking in the spiritual area. I need to reconnect with Him and get that connection strong again. All the other areas are doing well.

Prov. 11:1 says, “A false balance is an abomination to the Lord but a just weight is his delight.” I want to have all areas of my life to be a delight to the Lord.

Wednesday … Charise was my canoe partner this day. Oh what a great time we had! I really enjoyed having Charise as my partner. We were able to connect as mothers of sons with disabilities. To be able to share our hearts and encourage each other was so good.

It’s amazing to me how God was so intentional in placing me with ladies who I could connect with in different areas of my life. To think that He doesn’t care about the details of our lives is crazy. 

He cares about every part of me.

He cares that it’s not always easy to see my son face the challenges that he needs to face.

He cares that I love to see him rise above those challenges time after time.

He cares about my hurting mother heart and when his siblings hurt for him.

He cares that I pray for my children with passion.

He cares that there are times when I need to talk about all these things with someone else who completely understands because she’s facing and feeling all the same things I am.

I love and appreciate how my Father cares about me and my children and my friends.  

Charise and I did portaging together like we were meant to be together. The times we double carried we prayed about our life situations. We prayed for each other. We prayed for our children and their future spouses. Oh the power of prayer! This was precious time.

Wednesday was one of my favorite days of the week. I laughed like I’ve never laughed before!  Even as Charise and I had our heart conversations we also laughed a lot together. I love her contagious laughter. I will never forget laughing with her at the start of a long portage. We had just gone through a tight grassy creek when we got to the 1400m portage. The creek was a challenge to get through and we kept getting into the grass and laughing to the point of just being silly. We were getting out of the canoe to portage and I was attempting to get my backpack on in the water when I started to lose my balance. Charise caught me and we just laughed and laughed. It was one of those moments that “you had to be there” but it was priceless to me.

We chose to double carry this portage since it was a long one. This was when we were able to pray together for strength and for our children. This was a great portage. Digging deep for that inner strength came easily when we prayed.

We came to Merchant Lake at the other end of the portage. At the other side we came to a short portage of 330m that Charise single carried since she hadn’t carried one yet. It’s funny how we now consider a 330m a short portage. On the first day it wasn’t a short portage. It was one that needed to be survived. This brought us to Happy Isle Lake.

We came to Happy Island and found the two campsites we were hoping to be able to set up camp at. It was beautiful!! Happy Island is an appropriate name for this island. It makes us happy.

Happiness found us while we were there! This Wednesday night everyone laughed and laughed and laughed until we couldn’t laugh anymore. It was my favorite evening of the week. I can’t put into words how much I needed this laughter that kept spilling out. It was so incredibly healing for me to be able to be who I am and simply laugh until my stomach hurt and/or couldn’t breathe. It seemed to cover all the lack of laughter and joy that had been missing in my life for years. Oh the healing that came for me through laughter …

We had gotten to the island at 2:30, which was early, so we were able to take time for ourselves for a couple hours. We bathed in the lake, which was refreshingly chilly, but felt really good to be clean.

I took some time to pull away from everyone to spend some time alone with the Creator of the Universe. I journaled and simply relaxed in His presence. So nice. In my journal I wrote, “This group of ladies is the perfect group for me to be with this week. God is good to me!” I fell in love with these ladies this week. I was able to freely be who I am and be totally okay with it and be accepted for who I am without judgment. Healing.

The sunset on Happy Island

Thursday … We got up early to leave for a long day of paddling and portaging. We all knew that this was going to be a long day so we prepared ourselves mentally for it as much as we could. We found out that this was the hardest day of the week.

Christen and I paired up for this day. She was a great partner. She has a quiet, sweet spirit, which was so nice for me. She steered the canoe on this day. Since I had been steering everyday so far it was quite an adjustment to be in the front of the canoe all day.

We quickly got to our first three portages. We did our first three right away. The first one was 810m; the second was 1850m and the third 540m. We double carried the first two then I single carried the 540m. I attempted to single carry the 810m but my legs were still so tired from the Wednesday’s portages. At the end of the 540m we came to Otterslide Lake which took us to Little Otterslide Lake. We were hoping to see otters in these lakes but didn’t see any. The wind was picking up on these lakes so it was a little bit of a challenge to get through these lakes. The burn in the shoulders and arms was getting more intense. Having three quick portages and a lot of canoeing can bring on the burn pretty quick. At the end of Little Otterslide Lake we came to a 780m portage. Christen carried this one. This brought us to Burnt Island Lake.

The wind was strong on Burnt Island! We took some time to regroup and pray before we took on this wind. It was scary! We followed the shore as much as we could but then had to cut across the lake to the first peninsula, into the wind. We needed to use a newly learned form of paddling that used our whole body. It wasn’t just using the upper body; it was a full body paddling motion. Using this form was a God-send! We once again regrouped at the first peninsula and headed into the wind again. By the time we got to the next peninsula most of us were “done”. Our bodies wanted to quit and there was no strength within us and digging for the inner strength didn’t even seem possible. The wind kept pushing us around in the lake and up against the rocks. It took everything we had to keep going. Most of us were exasperated, exhausted and frustrated pretty quickly.

We finally got to our campsite. It was a relief to be able to be on land even though it felt like we crashed into shore. We started looking for and cutting firewood right away. We quickly learned the drill of getting the firewood right away and setting up our tents after the wood was cut and stacked. We then were able to get into our dry clothes and relax.

I took some time to go off alone with God. I needed to be with Him after the tough day on the white capped water. 

Friday … Our last day! We woke up to rain this morning. It started raining in the middle of the night but I didn’t care. This was our last day and I was going home to see my family.

We packed up and headed out into the rain. Denise and I were so excited to be going home after a long, challenging week. We were partners again and were ready to push our way out of there. We had four short portages and knew we could take them on without a problem. She carried two and I carried two. At the end of the week the portages were so much easier than the beginning of the week. Still challenging? Yes! Easier?  Yes!

The water was smooth with very little wind, if any. The steady rain was refreshing to us after fighting the wind so much during the week. We had beautiful weather but so much wind. Going out into the rain with no wind was very welcoming and refreshing. We left the campsite this morning asking the Lord for no wind and He said “I can do that for you.” :) With the calmness He chose to wash us with a steady rain all the way back to Canoe Lake.

After carrying 430m and 290m portages we were back on Canoe Lake with the end in sight. We got back before noon, in great time!

Before we could take a shower we needed to quote our bible memory verses for the week.

My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:14-19

The shower was so refreshing.

     The drive home was long.

          Being home in my nice warm bed was comfortable.

               Being with my husband completes me.

                    Seeing my children in the morning was fun.

                         Processing the week with my best friend, soulmate and husband was comforting.

                              Knowing that he understands is healing.

                                   Letting my body heal is good.

                                        Getting back into the swing of life is … an adjustment.

What an incredible God week it’s been … 

Would I do it again? Absolutely! Next year ...