(this blog has been under development since December 24, 2012. I finally decided to finish it.)
Today, I spent the day snowboarding with my parents at mount Ashland in Oregon.
After spending majority of the time on the bunny slope, my dad and I realized before we can proceed to any bigger slopes we needed to wax our boards. In order to do that we needed to go on a ski lift, go down a mountain and gear right toward the ski shop.
Cool, sounds easy, right?
yeah…
When we finally made our way to the ski lift I remember looking up at that mountain and saying "well.. crap," It was the steepest and highest mountain I've seen.
When it came to be our turn on the ski lift my dad realized that we were going on the wrong ski lift to get to where we needed to go. It turns out that the easier mountain my dad originally wanted us to go on was next to us, and this mountain was the second hardest mountain in mount Ashland.
I was terrified.
Sometimes, in our walk with the Lord there comes this GIGANTIC mountain and we look in front of us with terror. It looks too terrifying and we may even wonder how we'll be able to get through it, but it's the only way to continue on His path that He originally designed for us.
Our Dad knows us well enough to know that in order to really shape us we need to go through these difficult trials and attempt them with faith. He knows that He's the only one who can get us to the other side. We just have to know it too.
When we got to the very top, I strapped my right foot onto my board and wobbled my way to where the drop off was. My dad was next to me and giving me instructions of where he was going to be waiting for and told me to take my time. With disbelief in myself that I would make it down alive, I trusted my father. I gave myself a little nudge and fell the moment that I started. This went on the whole way down to where my dad promised to meet me.
He looked at me with compassion and love,
"you can do it" He said
"No, I cant" I would say back
"you're doing good." He said
"No I'm not" I would say back
"You only have a little bit further left." He said
"I can't do it!" I screamed.
Then sat in the pile of snow that I made for myself and threw a pity party for the whole world to see.
I was angry, not necessarily at my dad, more at the situation I was in. Here I am, a beginner snow boarder on the second hardest slope in mount Ashland, and I have to go down it in order to get to our destination. I had no faith that I could do it, but my dad had faith in me.
After a bit of fussing, I got up again and finally made it down to where he was. We had one more big slope to go down that was much steeper than the first one in order to reach the bottom.
Those of you that snowboard or ski, you might understand this,
It was one of those slopes where you couldn't even snowboard straight down without falling on your face, you had to zig-zag from one side to the other… I'm not a zig-zagger! I could barely get my board to go the direction I wanted it to.
But my dad gave me the same directions as before, and I obeyed because i trusted him.
I started down once more and instantly fell. I thought maybe if i scooted on my butt it would be easier, but I somehow ended up on my face. I got back up and tried again, I kept falling and even found myself in a hole at one point.
This went on till I reached my dad, he smiled at me like he was proud of me, he continued to tell me "good job Annie, you did great."
As I was sitting in the hole I created for myself, I looked back at the mountain I just faced. I stared at it with achievement. Regardless of how graceful I probably didn't look, how difficult it was, and how I handled the situation, I overcame that mountain because of my dad. He walked me step by step, giving me instruction and waited for me patiently.
I can't help but compare how similar this story is to my walk with the Lord. In those times I'm going through hardship, I'll be hesitant to walk along. But, when I begin to, He would give me instruction. I continue out of obedience and I fall, constantly. But, I would hear Him tell me I'm doing good and I'm almost there. So, I get back on my feet. I would stumble again and again and again. I get angry, I yell, I say I can't do it. But He tells me I can, how proud He is of me for obeying, that He won't leave my side. So, I continue to move toward Him, I continue to wait for His instruction, I continue to wait to hear His encouragement.
In order to move forward with your walk, you will face these mountains. And in order to get through them, you HAVE to be led by the only One who can walk you through it. He WILL guide you, encourage you, and lead you out.
Then, maybe years down the road, you'll look back at time of your life, you'll see His faithfulness, love, and all the blessing He brought into your life from that hard trial.
And that, my friends, makes all the difficulty from that trial worth it.
"Our trials are great opportunities, but all too often we simply see them as large obstacles. If only we would recognize every different situation as something God has chosen to prove His love to us, each obstacle would then become a place of shelter and rest, and a demonstration to others of His inexpressible power. If we would look for the signs of His glorious handiwork, then every cloud would indeed become a rainbow, and every difficult mountain path would become one of ascension, transformation, and glorification. If we would look at our past, most of us would realize that the times we endured the greatest stress and felt that every path was blocked were the very times our heavenly Father chose to do the kindest things for us and bestow His Richest blessings. God's most beautiful jewels are often delivered in rough packages by very treasures of the King's palace and the Bride Grooms love. We must trust the Lord through the darkness, and honor Him with unwavering confidence even in the midst of difficult situations. The reward of this kind of faith will be like that of an eagle shedding its feathers is said to receive- a renewed sense of youth and strength.
If we could see beyond today
As God can see;
If all the clouds should roll away,
The shadows flee;
O're present griefs we would soon forget,
For many joys are waiting yet
For you and me.
If we could know beyond today
As God does know;
Why dearest treasures pass away
And tears must flow;
And why the darkness leads to light,
Why dreary paths will soon grow bright;
Some day life's wrongs will be made right,
Faith tells us so.
'If we could see, if we could know,'
We often say,
But God in love a veil does throw
Across our way;
We cannot see what lies before,
And so we cling to HIm the more,
He leads us till the life is o're;
Trust and obey."
