These Boots

These boots were made for walking ...

And that's exactly what they have been doing. 

Lots. And lots. Of walking. (15,000 steps / 6.25 miles today alone!)

Walking up and down (and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down) the steps of my building - carrying patient charts to the clinic, making deliveries to the lab, running down to harass my friends, and dashing from class to class. 

Gladly walking the quarter-mile back to see my old friends - jumping with glee at news of new babies, hurrying to help carry bags and boxes over protests not to, and creeping behind cubicle walls to surprise the old ladies who reward me with a warm embrace. 

Taking long walks in the afternoon with the guy friend who is making my mind ache and my heart sparkle - striding in the footsteps of great alumni, tiptoeing through bookshelf-tunnels in the campus curiosity shop, and wandering in and out of restaurants in search of something to suit both our stomachs and our budgets.

If I told you some of the things I've been up to, you wouldn't believe me ... like if I told you that last week I woke up after having nightmares about party dress shopping for an hour, only to remember that I was stuck in an old recliner in a sound booth having my brainwaves recorded by my classmate. Or if I told you that I took the above photo in an abandoned greenhouse on a day when the wind was gusting at 40 miles per hour (it was trying to rip the old roof off the building as I crept inside). Or if I told you that I have somehow developed the ability to exist on 3.75 hours of sleep every night and my friends are starting to think I'm crazy.

Life is such a wonderful, confusing, exhausting, brilliant adventure ... the Lord has been so close to me these last few weeks, filling my life with His truth and protection, and reassuring my nervous, anxious heart that He is with me and guiding my footsteps with my hand safely in His, just as He always has. And I know that He will continue to guide me as long as I acknowledge Him and seek His will.

These boots and I just keep on walking, hand in hand with the Lord Jesus.