Monday · August 3, 2026 · The Care Before the Camino ⛰️
The First Step Was Never the Camino.
It Was Leaving My Nets Behind.
On the eve of walking Spain — the grief, the belief, the waiting, and the version of me I am laying down.
Hey you, it's me.
I know I've been kind of quiet lately, and I'm sorry. Preparing for the Camino, mentally and physically, has asked a lot more of me than I expected.
But I wanted to share something with you. For the last little while, I've been walking an 18-day journey to prepare spiritually. I started it eighteen days before I leave — one page, one question, and one scripture each day. A quiet look at my own heart. By the time you read this, I'll be about thirteen days out, five days into the journey myself. The first four days hit hard, and I needed to share them with you. I'll post the whole 18-day journey under the Resources tab. And I want to bring you into it.
It started with a fisherman named James.
He was an ordinary man. He spent his days on the water, mending his nets, probably expecting to do it for the rest of his life. Then Jesus walked by.
Two words: Follow me.
No plan. No promise of comfort. No map of the years ahead. Just an invitation. And when Jesus called, James did not hesitate. Matthew tells us, "Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him." (Matthew 4:22)
Immediately.
He didn't know he would witness miracles. He didn't know he would become one of Jesus' closest friends. He didn't know it would one day cost him his life. He simply took the first faithful step and let God hold the rest of the path.
I've been sitting with James a lot lately.
I leave to walk the Camino in less than two weeks. A month across northern Spain. And if I'm honest with you, and I'm always honest with you, I don't fully understand what these days are going to ask of me. When the Camino called, I said yes long before I understood the cost.
Like James, I'm learning that you do not have to see the whole path. You only have to leave your nets and take the first step.
Have you ever felt called toward something, but instead of responding immediately, you stopped because you needed to understand it first?
I think that is part of the journey of faith. So often, we allow the unknown, or what we do not understand, to hold us back and weigh us down. I know I have.
What if Noah had refused to build the ark because it had never rained?
What if David had believed he needed a sword instead of picking up a stone?
What if Peter had never stepped out of the boat because the waves looked too big?
What if Moses had said no because he did not believe he was a good speaker?
What if Esther had remained silent because speaking up felt too risky?
The list could go on and on.
My point is this: God often calls us toward things we do not fully understand. Things that may not make sense yet. Things the world may never understand.
I have spent some time naming the nets that have kept me trapped.
Nets I'm Leaving on the Shore
I'm leaving behind grief I've carried for a long time — the grief of estrangement from my older daughter, the grief of the family unit I thought we would always be. I'm not walking to fix it. Some things only God can heal. I'm walking to lay it down.
I'm leaving behind the belief that I have to earn love — the exhausting habit of doing more, giving more, forgiving more, and needing less so that people would choose me.
I'm leaving behind waiting for apologies that may never come.
I'm leaving behind the version of me who believed her worth depended on how useful she was to everyone else.
Those are heavy nets to hold. You cannot walk far carrying all of that. I started laying down the weight before I even left for the journey.
Here is what I'm walking toward.
I'm walking toward my God-given voice. Toward the courage to speak the truth with kindness. Toward becoming a woman whose first response is prayer instead of panic. Toward peace that doesn't depend on anyone else's choices. Toward believing that I am already loved, already enough, already chosen because I belong to Christ.
And here is the sentence I keep coming back to, the one I want to be true of me for the rest of my life.
I no longer want to spend my life trying to be chosen by people when I've already been chosen by God.
That is what this 18-day journey has been for me. Each day, a question, a scripture, and a page in my journal. One net to name and one thing to walk toward. It has been my way of getting my heart ready before my feet ever touch the trail.
But here is what I want you to hear. You don't have to fly to Spain to do this work. You could walk these same 18 days right where you are. One page a day. One net at a time. Your own little Camino, in your own living room.
Jesus taught us to pray for today's bread, not tomorrow's. "Give us today our daily bread." (Matthew 6:11) Maybe that is the secret of the first step. You only need enough for today.
So let me leave you with the same question I'm carrying up that mountain.
What net is Jesus asking you to leave on the shore?
You don't have to see the whole path. You don't have to understand the whole plan. You just have to take the next faithful step.
Read Matthew 4:18 to 22 when you have a quiet minute, and sit with that one word: Immediately. Then, whatever your nets may be, I pray you find the courage to leave them on the shore and follow Jesus, even before you understand where He is leading.
I'm waiting on your note~
What net is Jesus asking you to leave on the shore? What are you finally ready to lay down before you take the next faithful step?
Name Your Net ↓I love you.
Just stay sweet out there.
~ Jenn
The Care Before the Camino
This is Part One of my Silent to Spoken: The Way series — the spiritual prep before the trail.
→ The pillar: 4 Steps to Planning Your Camino de Santiago
Name Your Net
What are you finally ready to leave on the shore?