Mountains are so pretty from a distance. When they're in front of you, they beckon you with their beauty.
But get in the midst of them, and you see them for what they are—rocky ground and steep angles and bitter winds. Terror on every side.
Trials seem the same way to me. We see the future, all our plans and dreams, and don't they look pretty? We have no idea the difficulty that lurks in the details we're missing.
This year, our family had our share of mountains. I already told you about the two accidents that could have claimed the lives of three kids I love—my daughter, my youngest son, and my nephew. If you missed that post, CLICK HERE.
There have been other trials as well, less dramatic but with difficulties of their own. Those were events we didn't see coming when we looked into the future. They were mountains we had to scale to survive.
A few weeks before Thanksgiving, I was invited by Karen Ball and Erin Taylor Young at Write from the Deep to talk about being thankful in the midst of trials. Preparing for that interview, I went back over some of the things my family has survived this year, and I once again felt not frustration or fear, but enormous gratitude. Because life is hard, but God is good, and He is with us through everything.
How do we remember that when we're scaling cliffs, wind whipping, tears in our eyes, no safety in sight?
I don't have a definitive answer, but I can tell you a few things I learned this year.
- You can't claim promises you don't know: God has given us many “great and precious promises” (2 Peter 1:4), but you can't exactly whip out your Bible to find an applicable verse when you're hanging from a cliff. You need to know His word well enough to recall it when you need it. Yes, that means memorizing Scripture. It doesn't have to be perfect, but there will be a test. In fact, there will be many tests—right in the midst of those mountains that look so pretty from here. One Scripture I recalled while Jacob was in the hospital and Lexi was awaiting surgery comes from Isaiah 49:25. I didn't remember the entire verse, but I did remember—and claim—these words. “I will contend with those who content with you, and I will save your children“(emphasis mine).
- You can't draw from an empty well: When you spend time with God and read His word and go to Him in prayer, God joins you there. When you ask Him to fill you with His Spirit, He will. He fills believers who want to be full of Him. You need to begin each day assuming it will have its share of cliffs you can't scale on your own. And don't buy into the lie, “God never gives you more than you can handle.” God gives you more than you can handle all the time. He wants you to seek Him for the help you need, so He can show Himself faithful (see 2 Corinthians 12:9).
- You're probably not going to find what you're not seeking: When I go into a forest, I focus on trees. I love trees. Other people love wildlife, so when they go into the forest, they're searching for signs of rabbits and deer and bears. Birdwatchers will go into the forest … well, you get the idea. It's not that when I go into the forest, I don't see wildlife or birds—I do, if they're right in front of me. Since I'm not seeking those things, my eyes skim over them. (Well, not bears. My eyes would definitely not skim over a bear.) Having said that, as much as I love trees, when I go to the grocery store, I'm not looking for trees, because I know they're not there. So, there are two issues at play here: 1-you look for what you love, and 2-you look for what you love where you believe you'll find it. Here's the point: When you're in the midst of trials, you must love the Lord—I assume you've got that one down. And you must believe He's there.
You must know God's word, you must be full of His Spirit, and you must believe He's hanging from that proverbial cliff with you. When you seek Him, You will find Him. And when you find Him—in the handhold that gets you closer to the top, in the break in the wind, in the arm that comes down to pull you up—God is there in every good thing that happens. He's there in the hard things, too, in the form of peace and comfort. He's there, showing off, showing Himself faithful, and waiting for you to acknowledge Him and thank Him.
Mountains are pretty when they're in front of you. But when they're behind you, when you've scaled them with the Lord at your side, they're magnificent.
How do you remain focused on God and thankful in the midst of trials?
If you'd like to hear the Write from the Deep podcast, CLICK HERE.
