Is it possible for a destination in Bozeman, Montana to be an oasis in the desert?

I wasn’t going to come. Pausing my insanely busy life to drive to Bozeman, Montana has proven to be more than I bargained for.  Our house is packed full of students from Carroll College in Helena, Montana.  Tonight it will be stuffed to the brim with a team from University of Virginia as they trade places.  One of our favorite and craziest times of year is happening in Orem, Utah while I sit and reflect on the past few days in a cottage in Bozeman.  I was sick up until the day before we left.  We were going through a difficult time with some family.  

We all know there are things that are easier done by oneself than delegated.  Juggling housing arrangements, menus, women’s retreat registrations, dog grooming appointments, t-shirt printing, and arranging for the care of our precious children seemed a high cost to pay to “escape” to snowy Montana.  I had a deep sense that I had to come though.  So the less logical road was taken as I delegated my life, responsibilities, and children to those I love.  

I had heard about her from more than one person.  It’s a bit intimidating to meet someone deemed a spiritual giant.  I was nervous, and maybe that is another reason why staying cocooned in my chaos in Utah seemed very tempting.  Why was I nervous?  I don’t quite know.  Was she going to read my mail in front of this group?  Was the presence of God so powerful in her that I would be deemed dumb and mute? Such absurd fears, but nevertheless authentic. 

We parked in front of an adorable blue cottage-like home buried in a record snowfall.  Is it possible for a destination in Bozeman, Montana to be an oasis in the desert?  I can testify that, yes, it is.  The home by itself would not be able to support this definition.  The couple that resides there are in and of themselves the oasis.  

I will have to write about him one day, but I am compelled to right about her this morning.  Her eyes are more than inviting.  They call you to rest.  They call you to come.  They call you to share your life no matter how dark, disturbing, or unassuming it may be.  Her voice is soothing like the sound of a river deep in the woods.  It also is gently commanding like distant thunder on a rainy day.  She called us to deep community and rest in a matter of days.  I believe she is one of the mightiest, strongest women I have every met and yet her physical body is confined to a wheelchair.  

Thirty years ago as a young mother she made a mundane, seemingly uneventful trip to the grocery store.  She would never walk into that local grocery store again, because within seconds she would lose the use of her legs as a car careened into her own vehicle.  To this day, this mighty woman navigates life in a way that none of us could understand or want.  She has aids that help her for two hours every morning to do what it would take most of us 30 minutes or less to do. 

I consider the past week, and I don’t remember once feeling sorry for her.  I can’t say that I sat in awe of her while I was with her either.  That feeling of awe comes after I leave her presence and consider what happened while with her.  The one thing that I felt in her presence was loved.  I was the main event.  I was the center of attention in her eyes.  There was no time to be in awe of her or feel sorry for her.  I don’t know what she would be like minus the day that altered her life forever.  Would she have the same supernatural ability to sooth and command with her eyes?  I don’t know, but I do know that being with her for four days felt a lot like being with her Savior for 4 days.  There is a Joy Schroeder place in my heart now that is calling me to love others deeply, to make them the main event, to call them to rest, and to call them to follow hard after my Savior.  I got more than I bargained for, and I am forever grateful that I will never be the same again.