Mount Elbert is the highest mountain in Colorado standing at 14,439 ft. We had some friends visiting that definitely own the ‘go big or go home’ motto, and the ‘bring it on’ mentality. So when they mentioned they wanted to hike a 14er while visiting, Mount Elbert seemed like the perfect one!
It was a 12 mile hike, 6 miles of straight incline followed by 6 miles of trying not to fall flat on your face. I have never doubted my fitness more, than on Sunday. It was such a mental and physical struggle for me to get to the top and it wasn’t just the last mile or anything! It started before we even reached the end of the tree line. I was pretty much toast. Burned up. Like “Oh, these views are good enough, you guys have fun at the top, I’ll meet you at the truck!”
The views are incredible once you reach the tree line, but God has something bigger and better for us! I think often times we give up on ourselves a little too early, and give up on God even earlier.
We think that this is good enough, I’m going to meet you at the bottom.
That is not what he wants for us. If we keep pressing into him, He has something even better!
There may be a couple false summits song the way, (4 false summits in Mount Elbert’s case) but He tells us that it will all be worth it in the end.
He had something better for me at the top of Mount Elbert.
6 long hours later, we made it to the top and I was able to see it. Mount Elbert surely did not disappoint. God, does not disappoint! The views were unmatched. Nothing like I have ever seen before in my life.
I am currently hiking up mountain trying to raise $17,000 by January. I doubt myself all of the time. Key word in that sentence being MYSELF! But, it is going to be worth it. It already is. I feel like I have just passed the tree line and am getting a taste of what the view will be like come January.
I may lose my footing and fall flat on my face a couple times, I may have to pause to catch my breath when the air gets thin, but that’s okay. It’s all part of the journey.
Each time someone tells me they are praying for me, I get closer the summit. When I get an email saying someone has donated, I climb a few more feet higher.
Although I doubted myself climbing Mt Elbert, I do not doubt God had something big for us at the top. Just like I don’t doubt that I am supposed to be on the World Race in January and he will answer my prayer of being fully funded by launch.
Mount Elbert was a struggle. Life is a struggle. Fundraising is a struggle.
But seeing what views we have in store, makes those struggles worth it.
Isaiah 58:11 The Lord will guide you, and satisfy your soul in drought and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
What mountain are you currently climbing?
Proof that I did indeed make it to the top!
