Skip to main content

31 Days: Afraid


On Sunday, I was in Niagara Falls taking a hike with a fellow conference attendee. We set out on what we thought was an easy trail that began at the top of this photo. But when we chose to take the lower trail, things got a little challenging. The photo above was taken from the level we ended the trail on. I don't think it completely conveys just how far it looked like we had traveled down that hill.

I was so afraid on that hike. Afraid we wouldn't ever find a place to return to the level we had started at before we started our descent on the trail. Afraid that I would take a step and loose my footing and have to be rescued off the side of that hill. Afraid that the trail would never end. At one point I suggested we go back but not long after I made that suggested, we finally saw some other people and we felt like we were saved.

I prayed almost constantly on that hike. And it wasn't until I arrived safely and thanked God about a jillion times that I realized that in those moments when I was afraid, I had the opportunity to put my trust in God. What a gift that was.

Even when all I saw when I looked up was this


I felt so blessed that I had that faith in God to rescue me. And much like the water rushing over Niagara Falls, I felt a flood of emotion as I realized that we were at the end of the trail. And that we were ok. And that God is so very good.

Even when the trail looks like this


and we don't see how we will survive, God always has something amazing for us at the end.



Labels

Labels:

Comments

  1. JoyceOctober 4, 2018 at 8:04 AM

    We do lots of hiking and I can relate very well to the fear and anxiety that can creep in when we feel we're physically over our heads. So happy you persevered to the beauty at the end! Visiting from the link-up today. At the moment I'm # 58 on the list.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Five Minute Friday: Roots

Lisa-Jo Baker (lisajobaker.com) hosts a weekly event on her blog called "Five Minute Friday". The rules are 1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking. 2. Link back here and invite others to join in. 3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community.. So here's my first try at this. Today's topic was Roots. Roots – I think about my grandparents who lived on a farm until my grandfather’s diabetes worsened and they moved to a town with a hospital nearby. My father still says he wished he could have kept that farm. I think of my grandmother who was a widow for 20 years. Every year she would stand over my PaPa’s grave, wishing she was with him. I think of my parents, a product of those grandparents, how hard my father worked to put 2 girls through...
10 comments
Read more

Five Minute Friday: Expect

Five Minute Friday is a writing event that has writers spending five minutes writing on the same topic and then sharing them at  http://katemotaung.com/five-minute-friday/ . This week's word is Expect.   I'm going to admit something. When I pray, I expect God to do what I ask. I'd like to think that is a sign of faith but in some ways, it is a sign of arrogance, like I know what is best for me. I picture him up in heaven like the above photo, signalling to the angels and saying like a benevolent Captain Picard, "Make it so." I never stop to think about what's right or worse, what's God's will, I just ask away and expect to be granted my wish. I guess that means I see God as more of a fairy godmother than my heavenly father. It doesn't matter if it is little things like, "Please make the bathtub faucet quit leaking" or "Please make my aunt well." I expect my prayer to be answered. And for things like "Please send...
2 comments
Read more

Five Minute Friday: Time

Five Minute Friday is a writing event that has writers spending five minutes writing on the same topic and then sharing them at http://katemotaung.com/five-minute-friday/ . This week's word is Time. Sometimes time feels like this, like we are in it. Standing inside it, watching life pass by. It is so easy to get stuck in a time - in our pain, in our hurt. We hear the ache tick away in our head like a giant clock. Time, instead, is a gift. More time with family, more time to accomplish goals, more time to see the world. When you are hurting, it seems like time takes forever. One day turns into another day, turns into another day. When we hate a job, the five days of time that make up a work week seem to go on forever. But those five days are also a gift. Because these days, a job is not a guarantee. I want to see time as gift, not as a chore. I want to be on the other side of it, wishing there was more of it. Making the most of every hour, minute, and second instead of...
6 comments
Read more