(I know it's been almost two years since my last post... I'm not sure why I stopped. I'm not making any promises to continue, but I felt lead to post my long walk experience here.)
At
around 6am I woke up, looked out the window and knew it was time to start on my
day with the Lord. I quickly got dressed
and headed downstairs. I prepared my
pack with water, an apple, my nook (which has multiple bible versions
downloaded), my phone and headphones. By
6:30 I was out the door.
Fortunately
it is a short walk to the Deer Valley Ski Resort where I had planned on doing
my hike. I decided to listen to the
day’s DAB reading while walking to the mountain.
I knew
where I was going to hike, as I’ve hiked here before. However, I did not know exactly how the
morning was going to play out. I didn’t
want to walk the entire time. I wanted
to find a spot to sit down, take in the view, and just absorb. So, after the DAB reading was over, I took
out my headphones and listened to the sounds of nature. Being there so early in the morning allowed
me to hear more and see more than I might have later. I saw many birds, cute little field mice,
chipmunks, and prairie dogs. They were
so busy in the morning, scurrying about.
This didn’t really occur to me then, but as I’m typing this, I’m struck
by how faithful God is to these tiny creatures.
He provides for them in everyway.
And how much more important are we to Him?
After
about an hour of hiking, I felt like I needed to find a spot to sit. The problem was that it was a narrow path
with no good spots for sitting so I kept on walking. Finally, a clearing with a beautiful view, I
found it! The perfect spot! So I plopped myself down and knew I would be
there for a while.
The view
was really breathtaking. From where I
was sitting, I could see mountains in the distance, a lake, hills, clouds, and
the sunrise. It was truly God’s
painting.
As I sat
down, I decided to read from my daily devotional. At the end of the devotional, some verses are
referenced so I thought it would be nice to go and read the entire chapter from
where the verses were.
I
started with Psalm 20. Right away a
single line jumped out at me – “May he grant you your heart’s desire and
fulfill your plans.” Earlier this year,
I spent some time on the beach in Galveston, just before listening to Brian
speak at a church, and on that beach God told me that He has great things in
store for me. I believe this with all
that I am. I know God is faithful and
true and to come across this verse was God reminding me that He will fulfill
what he has set out for me.
As I was
sitting there, pondering the Psalm, I noticed all sorts of rocks around
me. A pile of rocks is special to us
DABers and I felt compelled to create my own special pile, in honor of God and
in remembrance of His faithfulness. It
started off a simple pile, but as the hours went on I added more and more rocks
– little ones, big ones, dark, light, odd shaped… Each rock represented kind of like a “selah”
that one would come across in a Psalm.
The next
portion of scripture I read was from 1 John 1:5-10. It is about walking in the light and
confessing our sins. I spent a good
amount of time confessing to God all my sins and really trying to be 100%
honest and open and raw. There are some
things that I’ve done in my past that I don’t think I’ve really verbalized to
God. Of course He knows… He knows
everything already, but as it says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,
and the truth is not in us.” Not
admitting sin is just as deceitful as saying we don’t have sin.
From
there I moved to Luke 1. I’ve read this
chapter countless times but today it had such a profound effect on me. Verses 1-25 tell of Zechariah and Elizabeth
and how though they were well advanced in years Elizabeth would become pregnant
with John who would make way for Jesus.
What struck me so much was thinking about Elizabeth. She was a devout Jewish woman who probably
was devastated that she did not have children.
I can imagine her praying to God, asking Him for a child, and waiting
for so long. “After this his wife
Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. ‘The Lord has done this for me,’ she said. ‘In these days he has shown his favor and
taken away my disgrace among the people.’”
After reading this account, tears were streaming down my face with the
realization that was so clear – God is so faithful! And all things work for His glory. Psalm 20:4… “May he grant you your heart’s
desire and fulfill all your plans.”
I
continued reading in Luke 1, moving on to Mary and how she reacts to being told
about giving birth to a child. When the
angel Gabriel was telling Mary how she would become pregnant though she was a
virgin, he told her the Holy Spirit would come upon her and that her child
would be called holy – the Son of God.
And then he said, “(36) Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a
child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her
sixth month. (37) For no word from
God will ever fail.” Our Lord is
ever faithful and He keeps His promises!
Further
on in the chapter, Mary goes to visit Elizabeth and she tells Mary how her baby
leaped for joy at the sound of Mary’s voice.
Then she tells Mary “(45) Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord
would fulfill his promises to her!” More
and more reminders of God’s unfailing love and faithfulness. It’s like I’m being bombarded… God is telling
me over and over again that His word is true and I have only to believe in Him,
trust in Him. It’s not what I do on my
own, it’s not about doing to get to God, it’s about going to Him first and then
doing together. Jesus says “take my yoke
upon you”. He wants to do life with us.
At the
end of Luke 1, it says that Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and
prophesied. It is a beautiful song of
praise to the Lord. The last few verses
were particularly meaningful for me as I felt they reflected the view that I
had been looking at – “God’s sunrise will break in upon us, shining on those in
the darkness, those sitting in the shadow of death, then showing us the way,
one foot at a time, down the path of peace.”
This verse reminds me of the path I’ve been on since seeking Jesus. What I’ve realized is that God has ALWAYS
been there with me. For such a long time
I would not let His sunrise break in on me, but one day I finally did and His
light came into my darkness and He’s been showing me the path of peace ever
since then.
From
Luke, I moved on to Romans 12. This
chapter has been coming up various places over the last month or so for me so I
decided to reread it and really absorb what the Lord is telling me. Verses 1-2 are life altering – offer yourself
as a living sacrifice, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. I asked God, how do I do this? I want to do this. I want to offer myself, give myself to Him. I want to be transformed by the renewing of
my mind. Verses 3-5 talk about how we
are all parts of one body and how we must function together. The hand cannot go off on it’s own and expect
to function, nor can the toe. We must
all work together. Verses 6-8 discuss
God’s gifting to us – prophesying, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving,
leading, showing mercy. We are all
gifted with one of these abilities and we are to operate in this gift. By doing this we will be working as one body
and in doing so, we will experience joy.
Verses 9-21 are about love in action.
With Jesus, it is all about loving people. Verse 21 stood out to me – “Do not be
overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.” So many times I do feel overwhelmed by the
evil in this world. I feel helpless and
that makes me want to give up almost.
But according to Paul, we are not to be overwhelmed by evil. In doing that, evil wins. Instead, overcome it with good. That is where loving people comes in. Love God, love people. It really is that simple.
After
reading through Romans, I took some time to pray for my loved ones, my friends
and family. I went through each person
who came to mind and spent time lifting them up to the Lord. This is something I need to do more
often.
Finally,
it was time for me to start on my hike back.
As I was walking down the mountain, I had such a bursting feeling of
joy. I could not contain the smile on my
face. I felt so much love for
Jesus. I remember walking, looking to
the side of me, and imagining Jesus walking beside me, my hand in His. This is an image I will hold onto
forever.
Praise the Lord, oh my soul, for
all that you are…
