If we looked at our journey from the bottom of the mountain I am fairly confident most of us would never even take the first step. But our lives instead are a constant steady motion of going forward, step by step, day by day.
As believers we can take comfort in the fact that we do not go this journey alone.
And what plans God has for us along the way are for our betterment, plans not to harm us, but to prosper us.
Does that verse feel worn out to you? Do those words not hold the same encouragement they did at the beginning of the journey when you were fresh? Was the start line so far behind you that you've lost sight of what life looked like before you began this journey? Then this message is for you.
Despair not my friend.
You may be halfway up the steepest, seemingly unspeakable mountain. Are the rocks sharper than you care to speak of? The terrain rougher than you'd ever have believed? Raise your eyes child...
Look to the next step and see, your faithful Father stands with hand extended.
He will not time warp you to tomorrow, because He is with you in the now. He is standing with you on the rocky crag of today.
I've stood there on the ledge of today, and wanted to give up. When I was weary before I even began. But this usually happened when I looked down, or up the mountain, I have come to recognize the beauty of looking at the here and now. At looking at today. Only. Each step will come as He leads you by the hand.
There is no danger HE will not walk through with you. He will never leave you up there on the mountain. You however can turn around and leave His path, but the journey down without Him is worse than the journey up with Him. The climb may feel difficult, but in this journey you are learning things you could never learn had you not started up the mountain.
Whatever day it was that He looked at you and said, "Follow me.." as HE started up the journey He wanted to take you on...the date matters not, but what matters is that you followed Him. Stay in step with Him. Do not turn to the right or the left. You will hear a voice behind you saying, "this is the way, walk in it.." His Spirit will lead and guide you!
DO NOT DESPAIR! DO NOT TURN BACK. Keep moving in step with Lord.
He has you where He has you for a reason. He will never leave you. He will never run farther than He knows you can go. Be affirmed in His constant presence. Be assured of His knowledge. OF His wisdom! He knows what you need. He knows how much you can handle. HE knows your limits and He meets you when you get to the end of yourself. He will not stretch you farther than you can go because He made you, so He knows you fully. All your strengths, all your weaknesses, all your desires and all your hurts. He knew you before you even were.
Do you feel your assurance mounting? Do you recognize you are not alone?
HE laid down His life, that we could be set free. He wants to free us from whatever masters us. When you started up the mountain you are currently marching up, there was probably some personal demons He asked you to leave behind. Some things that held you captive, some ideology that He wanted to free you from. Whether it be some past negative thinking, some old way you used to live, some bondage of the mind... He looks at us and says, "Lets leave that baggage behind so you can walk up this mountain free..." but usually we try to lug it up the mountain for a while...soon we recognize how heavy our burdens are, so we begin to lay them down one by one in the grace that which HE provides. If we could see with spiritual eyes, we'd see back down the path we've climbed and it would be littered with our baggage. Hurt, pain, fear, dis-trust, anger and many other things that have held us captive would be littered along the path.
It is so freeing to travel hands free.
Like when you drop your suitcases at the baggage claim, and walk through the rest of the air port with out something heavy to pull! Isn't that freeing? When you transition from huge diaper bag, to small purse...how nice it is when your children learn to walk and can get out of that big baby car seat...life is full of examples of how lighter loads free us.
This is the process by which HE takes us as HE frees us from our past, our sin and our sorrows.
Jesus teaches us along the journey, and reveals to us our need to lay it down.
So here you are, on the mountain side, and feeling as though there is no end in sight. Is it the end that you really want?
I'm really not even sure any more, walking with Him has been so amazing..
I've learned more on this journey that I could ever begin to explain, but I'm going to try to take all these things i've learned, hold them up as treasures in my heart, and use these nuggets
to encourage others...
One day, I woke up, laced up my hiking boots and got ready for my journey for that day, excited about what He would teach me along the path, unafraid of what I'd have to go through, because as I had learned from the past, He is always with me. Over the past years of climbing I had seen how constant He was, and knew that I no longer needed to fear. The next step that i'd take really mattered not to me anymore because I knew He'd be there with me. As we walked He stopped. I stopped too. Knowing He is the light unto my path .... "Look over there, " He said, and pointed just a few steps ahead of us. "The top" He said. My heart caught in my throat. All these years of walking up this mountain, and we were finally here. The top. I had grown to love this rugged mountain. Filled with crags, and rough patches, times it was so steep I almost had to crawl. I had put blood, sweat and tears into this mountain side, and now that I had reached the top I wasn't even sure I wanted to be done. But here we were. The top. Tears started to roll down my cheeks, I recalled all I had learned along the way, and I began to slip to my knees. As I kneel there, at the top of the mountain I worshiped Him who had stood by my side the entire time. I praised Him and recounted every time He had called me to stand, taking my hand and helping me to continue on. "Now what?" I asked? He looked at me, the deep wrinkles in face turned out as He smiled the biggest smile I'd ever seen, and He replied, "Follow me..." In my joy I stood and together, I looked back down the path we climbed up, only now, the path seemed different. It really wasn't the path that was different though, it was I who had changed. He had made me stronger, braver, and more confident in HIS ability to help and save. I started my climb afraid, doubtful, and trembling. He made me confident, hope-filled and fully trusting in His ability to completely save me. It was Him all along who got me through, and now I knew it for sure. I had such a history now to build on. I had a not a leg of my own to stand on, but knowing fully He was all I needed. And would ever need. Before I started the trip down, I stopped, and asked Him if I could spend a moment reflecting on all that He had done, He nodded. I built an alter on that mountain and offered sacrifices of thanksgiving and praise to the one who had set me free and conquered. Just as my forefathers had done years and years ago. I rose from my knees, and I told Him I was ready. He took me by the hand and together we started down that mountain, all the while I praised His holy, all powerful name. I do not know what the next journey will look like but I am not afraid of it. His track record has been one of consistancy that makes me trust Him fully. I know my true journey, my ultimate journey will not end until I reach heeaven, but along the way as I travel this earth He will make me, shape me, and use me. And for this I am eternally grateful.
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