Volcanoes.

While in Guatemala, God, as He usually does, taught me many important lessons in ways that I did not expect to learn them. One of these lessons came about through hiking a volcano. For those of you who don’t know, volcano’s are very steep. This little detail was one that I was unaware of, but anyway. We set out on our trek up the volcano. Considering the fact that I love to run and do so on a regular basis I did not think this hike would be too bad. Well, I was wrong, which is not unusual. I found that each step was a challenge. I had to stay focused on the goal of reaching the top the whole time (Philippians 3:14, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”). God began to throw ideas into my head as I climbed. This trek was very similar to my walk with Him. It wasn’t going to be easy, I was going to have to work at it and I needed to rely on Him each step of the way to make it to the top. Sometimes during our hike the volcano was very steep and it was hard to climb, it felt like each step I took wasn’t taking me anywhere. Other times during the hike we caught a breather as the land leveled out and we were able to look out and see how far we had come. This reminded me of my spiritual walk and how sometimes, it gets hard, I can’t see where I’m going and don’t feel like I’m going anywhere but in reality, I’m slowly gaining endurance as I work my way up the mountain. Other times its going to be easy, God is going to throw a simple blessing in my life and reveal His goodness to me. 

Finally, when we reached the top of the volcano, I was blessed with one of the most beautiful sights that I have ever seen. I stood in awe of Gods majestic creation. The top was unlike anything that I have ever seen or could have possibly imagined. Sometimes in our spiritual walks we have to climb the volcano, its going to be hard but what God has in store for us is so much better than anything that we could have ever imagined. The amount of beauty in His plan for us far exceeds the amount of difficulty in our trials.

As I easily climbed down the mountain I realized lots of things that I had missed on the hike up. I learned that just like in this hike, I need to focus less on the difficulty of my situation and more on what God is doing in the midst of my tribulations. The land near the top of the volcano was desolate and dead. Sometimes we have to walk through the dessert to reach the beauty of the mountain top. Then as we progressed down the volcano, we entered an area with dead trees. God reminded me of Psalms 23:4, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” I felt kind of like David as I hiked through the wilderness of the volcano. God was with me through my wilderness and had such a plan for me. Little did I know what was waiting on the other side as we approached an area of luscious green trees and plants. I noticed that the same soil that was in the wilderness was the same soil in which the beautiful plants grew. God sometimes sends us through the wilderness to prepare us for what He has waiting on the other side. The strength I gained from the hike up gave me endurance for the hike down, just like our trials prepare us for what God has in store for us. Its humbling to me how God works and speaks to us in mysterious ways, who would have thought that I would have learned so much from a simple volcano hike. What a mighty God we serve.