67 ~ Walking Trail Experience

By Kay Heitsch

It didn't take us too long to adjust to our new home and area.

Since Bill was still working for the company, he no longer had a long commute. We were very thankful for that.

We started to attend a church. Bill sang in the choir, and I started a job working in the church's nursery school.

I also took a part-time job working for the public school system. I did various things, but one was helping in special needs classrooms. I had never heard of Autism, and I learned a lot.

As I look back, our first grandson, Noah, is autistic. Was God preparing me for this?

Our new area had a lot of walking trails. Brandon and I made good use of them.

For some reason, Brandon didn't walk with me one day.

As I started walking, a normal-looking man walked up. I don't remember ever seeing him before. He didn't mention Brandon by name, but said something about me being alone without my son.

I'm very friendly, but for some reason, I had an odd feeling, and the hair on my neck seemed to stand up. I felt this was a warning.

As I continued walking, he began following me. I felt very uncomfortable and didn't know what to do. I couldn't turn around because he was there. The trail was wooded and isolated up ahead.

I looked up and saw another guy walking not too far away. I ran up to him and asked if I could walk with him. As we walked along, I told him why I wanted to walk with him. I didn't know this guy either, but I felt safe.

I glanced back, and the man had turned around.

I found out later that a woman had been murdered on that trail, but the person had never been caught. I never walked that trail again.

God used this uncomfortable experience to start me walking in my neighborhood. I met my neighbors, and God was able to show His love in many different ways.