I walked in the back of a trekking group with a friend. “We are almost to the top!” I yelled to encourage her, we had been walking uphill for over an hour, leeches were chasing our feet, our legs were burning, and we were sweating like we never had before. We were both dead tired.
We were climbing the Himalayan mountain range into a small remote village in Nepal. The view was beautiful but my legs were giving out. We were on day two of trekking. And then with a triumphant smile, we rounded the staircase of what I thought was the top and realized we still have dozens of uphill stairs left. We were not even close to the top. “Remember how you said we were almost there” my friend joked and we kept climbing.
Then Whitney’s brain kicked into learning gears- this could be a pretty cool sermon because, to be honest, this was exactly what my walk with God has looked like lately.
I left for the race to grow in Christ, to learn about God, to love everyone I came across, and to find un-imaginable joy. Check. Except it hasn’t been easy.
It’s been painful. There have been some wounds I’ve had to open from the past. There have been some tears (lots of tears), some blood (stupid leeches) and lots of heartaches. There even have been attacks from an enemy that has me doubting if I’m good enough to do, well anything.
There have also been moments that completely took my breath away. I saw 2 people come to Christ this week. I saw God move mountains to provide for teammates, to sustain us all. I’ve seen Gods hand in his beauty of creation, in his grace, and in his forgiveness for me. I’m learning so much about God and all he’s doing in my life! And I’m not done climbing, and I don’t know that I’ll ever be done with the climb.
I never want to be content with my relationship with Christ, I want to grow, to learn more, to keep being challenged. The reward is soo worth it. So today even when you feel like your legs are giving out due to an uphill climb, know that the view at the end it worth it. And even more worth it, was who God had us climbing mountains for, a small village, without the gospel, that heard the good news for the first time.
So here today lets pray a dangerous prayer- One where we proclaim to God we are ready for the uphill climb. We are ready to chase down the 1 person he needs, we are ready to feel our legs burn, to bleed, to risk it all for him.
