“I lift my eyes toward the mountains. Where will my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip; your Protector will not slumber.” ~Psalm 121:1-3
It was raining. Not hard, mind you, it was simply a drizzle. I started to half-skip as I walked to the base of Mt. Mulanje. “God is so good”, I thought to myself. I love the rain, and hiking in the rain is one of my favorite things to do. So here I was, in Malawi, Africa, about to climb a 9800 ft. mountain in the rain. I couldn’t think of a luckier person in all the world.
The first leg of my journey involved walking up to the base of a mountain through a tea plantation. It smelled lovely, and the green plants were gorgeous and reminded me of home. At the end of the plantation, there was a wall of brush, and some of our group decided to head back. After this point, there would be no return without our guide. I half-thought of turning back, of how easy it would be to simply walk back down. In hind-sight, I wish I had. It would have saved me a lot of headache, pain, worry, and money. However, I was determined to climb this mountain, so I continued on.
Before I continue my story, please know that other people in my group had the time of their lives and throughly enjoyed the climb. This is simply my experience and perspective of the journey.
At first, the hike was hard, but I had expected that. I had fun. We made it to a waterfall and it made hiking up to that point worth it, and I figured the rest of it would be worth it too.
Then it happened. We arrived to a point in the mountain where I had to climb with my hands and feet, grabbing on to slippery rocks and clumps of dirt for dear life. Thankfully, it was foggy, and you couldn’t see how far you would fall if you just so happened to slip. I learned later from the guide that I could have fallen all the way down the mountain. The grade was such that we were climbing almost straight up, and we didn’t have ropes. I’m not exaggerating to say I have never been so scared and full of fear than I did in those 3 hours. I realized I am deathly afraid of falling. I don’t mind heights, but falling from them is my greatest fear. There was one time when I slipped for a second. I thought I was going to die. When I stopped sliding, I took a minute or two to calm down since adrenaline in my blood was making my whole body shake. I was terrified. 3 hours later we finally made it to a point where you didn’t have to use your hands and could climb without too much fear of falling. By this point, I was exhausted and just wanted to reach the shelter at the top.
We made it to rolling plains that seemed to never end. The guide told us it would only be a half-hour to the shelter, but it ended up being more like an hour-and-a- half to two hours. As soon as you climbed one hill, you saw the next hill you would have to climb once you walked down. I put one foot in front of the other, humming a hymn in rhythm with my steps. I honestly have no idea how I had the strength to make it up that mountain. I know for a fact that God carried me up. There is no way I made it through my own strength. His peace is the only thing that comforted me in the climb. When I finally saw the shelter, I almost cried. I walked up the steps and sat down on the porch after ripping my pack off. I was cold, hungry, tired, and my feet hurt, but we were finally at the shelter.
Photo Cred: Katie Ellis
The man who lived at the shelter started a roaring fire for us, and all of us huddled around it after we changed out of our soaking and smelly clothes. I’m pretty sure my body was in Stage I Hypothermia. I sat in front of the fire for hours and couldn’t stop shivering. Thankfully, when I went to bed, my body was able to warm up under the blankets. I slept like a rock.
The next day, we started our hike down…
May King Jesus bless you!!
~Ashlyn
P.S. To everyone who supported me in prayer, thank you so, so, much!!! Your prayers were felt in mighty ways, and I was able to recover faster than the doctor thought. I am now back on the Race in Guatemala!! Praise the Lord!!
