Navigate the Landscape
of Life by Faith
Finding our way in the woods teaches us to navigate life by faith. Shall we take a hike?
Even when the landscape of life takes a tough turn, we can navigate by faith. Not by feel. Not by fear. By faith.
How do I know?
Hiking Yellowstone’s trails is always teaching me what it means to walk by faith through the highs and lows of everyday life. Even though the landscape of life passes through tough terrain, even though there is no one-size-fits-all map, it’s possible to find the way.
Whether the terrain you’re traveling is smooth, monotonous, unfamiliar, or steep, you’re in the right place. Let’s navigate life by faith.
happy trails ~
Natalie
Field Notes for Navigating Life by Faith
Gifts and Graces | Fall 2021
I have a long history of believing the way it is today is the way it always will be. This is especially true when I find myself traveling tough terrain but it spills over into easy stretches, too. Maybe you can identify. As a mindset, it doesn’t serve well. It...
Choosing an Adventurous Life
Two Octobers ago, I paused on the bank of the Gardner River and wondered just exactly why I would choose to be standing there in a swimsuit in twelve-degree air. We’d been there before–at least, my husband, two older kids, and I had. At that particular stretch of the...
How to Guard Your Heart
A long, long time ago—forty years last month—my parents took my little brother and me to Yellowstone. If you’ve read around here long, you know my life has never been the same. (Thank you, Mom and Dad.) One of the sights I most remember from that first visit is...
One Easy Way to Miss Your Life
We walked out of the bustling hotel lobby into the stillness of a crisp mountain morning. It was the end of September, well into the annual elk rut. Gone was the previous evening’s circus of bull-horn-brandishing rangers trying to keep space between territorial bulls...
The Real Risk of Rushing
Between the morning’s family-friendly hike around Trout Lake and the afternoon’s challenge trek to Sepulchre’s summit, we traveled through Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley. We knew this place well. At least, we knew it when it wore the colors of fall. But this was May, and...
Why Do We Keep Going?
My husband and I set off into the woods at a brisker than usual clip. Sooner than I hoped, the trail made good on its short-but-steep reputation. After a short lag, my steps slowed because there was no way I could keep that pace at that grade all the way to the top....
Sometimes It’s Not What We Think It Is
About a year ago, I spent the morning disc golfing with my husband and our kids. This meant I was out with my family (which I love), on a path through the woods (which I also love but not as much), trying to hit a target with what amounts to a heavy frisbee (which I...
How to Get Moving Again
“Time to get going,” Dad said as he thumped on the tent I shared with my husband. Going? I could barely move. I freed my beleaguered body from my sleeping bag and crawled from our tent out into the morning chill. Stiff and sore from the previous day’s ride, I picked...
How to Foster Hope–Any Time of Year
It was one of the first hikes we took together, my husband and I. It wasn’t long—only a few miles, but one long stretch was steep. The descent wasn’t bad, and the destination—a steel suspension bridge spanning a canyon in the middle of the wilderness—was worth the...
