Reaching For The Summit Part 1

From our kitchen window, I saw my husband drive up in his truck. He should have been at his job. I knew in my gut something was very wrong so I greeted him on the front porch. We sat at our teak table on that warm quiet summer morning, as he told me that he was let go from his job. I became brave and worried at the same time. ‘We can handle this,’ I thought.

A massive landslide changes the scenery of a mountain’s side. Over time the mountain will rejuvenate with wildflowers, grass, and trees. Although it will never become what it once was, it will remain a mountain. Circumstances alter our daily reality without prior written consent and preparation. Moments like these usually do not come along very often, but when they do arrive, rebuilding our daily life becomes necessary.  How our life fits into the world around us changes.

The mountain side will rejuvenate and our lives can be rebuilt.

The days and weeks turned into months of unemployment. In my quietest moments of fear I would cry out to God, ‘When, when will a job come?’ Courage would surface as God whispered his promise, ‘Just a little bit longer.’

 ^“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7, NIV)

Courage is a gift of peace in our minds and hearts from God! He sustains us when we feel faint within when the landscape of life. When the land looks torrid and in disrepair.

I am crazy about Him! He is my go to guy who is always waiting for me to seek him!

I heard someone say, months into my husband’s job search, ‘Maybe this is your new normal’. Ouch, that hurt my heart to hear.

It was the truth and I was in fear of.

I needed to simply shift my view from defeating thoughts. The landslide had taken place, re-growth was occurring under the ground. The old was gone.

“Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:18-19, NIV)

Early on after hearing about my husband’s job loss, a friend texted me Jeremiah 29:11. Reading and re-reading that verse comforted me and gave me hope. His word is meant to lead us closer to His heart. It is his love letter to us. The bible is available almost everywhere we are with bible apps, bible websites, and the handheld pages of a bound bible.

What have your life altering events been? Maybe they occurred years or decades ago. Maybe yours is now.

What has been your strength in times of despair or discouragement?

Please know, I am praying for you in your time of re-growth. I would love to hear how God is or has guided you through a time of change.

Next week, I will share how prayer changed everything in the whole situation in Part 2…

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.®