Have you ever noticed when God wants you to learn something He seems to remind you of it over and over? Maybe it's a life lesson, a biblical principle, or a verse that He desires to become apart of your story. It's like He tattoos it right on your heart so that it becomes a permanent part of who you are and how you respond to life. Have you ever been asked to go someplace, to do something, or to walk a difficult path that you thought utterly impossible or didn’t make sense? Or maybe you find yourself in a place that isn’t comfortable and you’re searching for a way out. You know the places, they are steep and hard to get your footing. The Lord has pressed Habakkuk 3:17-19 on my heart for years. It's been over ten years ago that He first took out his needles and began the heart tattoo that has become a permanent mark. Especially verse 19, "The Lord God is my strength, and He has made my feet like hinds feet, and makes me walk on my high places"
I shared the following story five years ago but the Lord has brought it again to my mind along with the verses and steadfastness He is desiring to produce in me through difficult circumstances.
We were about to plant our lives overseas and decided to take our kids and our future son-in-love to Yellowstone and the surrounding area when I first felt the needle prick. I was feeling the uncertainty and insecurity that comes from taking a leap like that. We also were leaving our daughter behind in college, that was hard on this momma. I sat by a babbling brook one morning and my eyes fell to the words in Habakkuk. I thought about what it might mean that God would give me what was needed to walk on my high places. On the same day that I read those words the following drama unfolded and He taught me. My family likes to rock climb so we searched for some kind of rock face that they could climb. We stopped at the ranger station and a kind ranger directed us to a place that we could climb that was off the beaten path. He was careful to tell us that a grizzly bear had been in the area and that we would need to make a lot of noise going up, that was to keep bears away…I guess? We found the place, it was one of those places that has a sign-in and sign-out sheet at the entry point of the trail, just in case you sign in and don’t sign out they will come looking for you or what remains of you! Off we went on a narrow trail that snaked up the side of the mountain. The trail was only wide enough for one, so we looked like a parade going up the mountain. Every once in a while someone would recognize that we were being too quiet as we navigated the trail. They had obviously had a thought of a grizzly bear and would break out in a song like This Is The Day and clap their hands loudly. We would all laugh hilariously and sing along. When we arrived at the face, the kids noticed that the face was loose and they would have to climb without ropes or tying in. They would take three steps up and then slide down a bit, regroup and go again. Jim didn’t think I should try it, which made me laugh because I don’t think that thought ever entered into my mind! So off they all went three lunges forward and then slide down. I was standing on a narrow ledge with a drop off of about twenty feet below me, a raging river at the bottom of the ravine and a mountain face on the other side that my family was creeping upward on. It then hit me, I was alone and what about the bears?! Great, Jim really wasn’t thinking about me having a hard time climbing, he was using me as bear bait! I sang, clapped my hands, watched my family and prayed for them as they struggled to navigate the rock face. All of a sudden my family froze, a mountain goat had scampered out on this face that literally had very little angle to it. I know he had to be thinking what are these things clinging to my mountain?! That goat must have been stunned, because he stood there long enough for me to get my camera out and take a picture, then he scampered away effortlessly. I was delighted and couldn’t believe how wonderful it was. I knew what God was teaching me, He would give me the footing necessary to climb whatever path He placed me on. My family continued to struggle to get their footing and made it to the top. I realized that they were able to see things from the top that I was never going to see from the semi-safe ledge below. Although the climb was difficult, as proof by the torn clothing, dirt covered, scraped and bleeding family that returned to me…it was all worth it! The climb, the exercise in endurance, and the view from the top all evoked elation in my family.
High places are not easy places to get to usually. They are often rocky, difficult, and you fight to know how to keep your footing or what to cling to.They require perseverance, steadfastness, and wisdom to navigate. Sometimes there are scrapes, bruises and blood accompanying the climb. The high places in our lives are the places that the Lord desires to take us. And although difficult, it is usually in the climb that we know Him more intimately as He teaches us things that would not otherwise be learned. All high places are meant to bring us to Him and ultimately to worship. My high places are not your high places. The difficult things that have come in and out of my life probably don’t look the same as yours, but we all have them. Cancer, chronic illness, marriage problems, a wayward child, infertility, financial ruin, loneliness, broken relationship, all of these and more are steep and rocky terrain, yet paths He asks us to navigate. His promise to us is to be with us, to guide us, and to equip us for the climb. Even when my climbing looks like taking three steps forward and sliding backwards or just hanging on, digging my fingernails into the dirt to cling and keep my footing. He knows the way I take. I never dreamed I would pray that God would make me like a goat, but I have! He continues to add ink to this heart tattoo and I continue to learn what it means to live and respond out of His truth.
Ever climbing, clinging, and learning
Kim
Habakkuk 3:19 The Lord God is my strength, and He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, and makes me walk on my high places.
Job 23:10 He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
I shared the following story five years ago but the Lord has brought it again to my mind along with the verses and steadfastness He is desiring to produce in me through difficult circumstances.
We were about to plant our lives overseas and decided to take our kids and our future son-in-love to Yellowstone and the surrounding area when I first felt the needle prick. I was feeling the uncertainty and insecurity that comes from taking a leap like that. We also were leaving our daughter behind in college, that was hard on this momma. I sat by a babbling brook one morning and my eyes fell to the words in Habakkuk. I thought about what it might mean that God would give me what was needed to walk on my high places. On the same day that I read those words the following drama unfolded and He taught me. My family likes to rock climb so we searched for some kind of rock face that they could climb. We stopped at the ranger station and a kind ranger directed us to a place that we could climb that was off the beaten path. He was careful to tell us that a grizzly bear had been in the area and that we would need to make a lot of noise going up, that was to keep bears away…I guess? We found the place, it was one of those places that has a sign-in and sign-out sheet at the entry point of the trail, just in case you sign in and don’t sign out they will come looking for you or what remains of you! Off we went on a narrow trail that snaked up the side of the mountain. The trail was only wide enough for one, so we looked like a parade going up the mountain. Every once in a while someone would recognize that we were being too quiet as we navigated the trail. They had obviously had a thought of a grizzly bear and would break out in a song like This Is The Day and clap their hands loudly. We would all laugh hilariously and sing along. When we arrived at the face, the kids noticed that the face was loose and they would have to climb without ropes or tying in. They would take three steps up and then slide down a bit, regroup and go again. Jim didn’t think I should try it, which made me laugh because I don’t think that thought ever entered into my mind! So off they all went three lunges forward and then slide down. I was standing on a narrow ledge with a drop off of about twenty feet below me, a raging river at the bottom of the ravine and a mountain face on the other side that my family was creeping upward on. It then hit me, I was alone and what about the bears?! Great, Jim really wasn’t thinking about me having a hard time climbing, he was using me as bear bait! I sang, clapped my hands, watched my family and prayed for them as they struggled to navigate the rock face. All of a sudden my family froze, a mountain goat had scampered out on this face that literally had very little angle to it. I know he had to be thinking what are these things clinging to my mountain?! That goat must have been stunned, because he stood there long enough for me to get my camera out and take a picture, then he scampered away effortlessly. I was delighted and couldn’t believe how wonderful it was. I knew what God was teaching me, He would give me the footing necessary to climb whatever path He placed me on. My family continued to struggle to get their footing and made it to the top. I realized that they were able to see things from the top that I was never going to see from the semi-safe ledge below. Although the climb was difficult, as proof by the torn clothing, dirt covered, scraped and bleeding family that returned to me…it was all worth it! The climb, the exercise in endurance, and the view from the top all evoked elation in my family.
High places are not easy places to get to usually. They are often rocky, difficult, and you fight to know how to keep your footing or what to cling to.They require perseverance, steadfastness, and wisdom to navigate. Sometimes there are scrapes, bruises and blood accompanying the climb. The high places in our lives are the places that the Lord desires to take us. And although difficult, it is usually in the climb that we know Him more intimately as He teaches us things that would not otherwise be learned. All high places are meant to bring us to Him and ultimately to worship. My high places are not your high places. The difficult things that have come in and out of my life probably don’t look the same as yours, but we all have them. Cancer, chronic illness, marriage problems, a wayward child, infertility, financial ruin, loneliness, broken relationship, all of these and more are steep and rocky terrain, yet paths He asks us to navigate. His promise to us is to be with us, to guide us, and to equip us for the climb. Even when my climbing looks like taking three steps forward and sliding backwards or just hanging on, digging my fingernails into the dirt to cling and keep my footing. He knows the way I take. I never dreamed I would pray that God would make me like a goat, but I have! He continues to add ink to this heart tattoo and I continue to learn what it means to live and respond out of His truth.
Ever climbing, clinging, and learning
Kim
Habakkuk 3:19 The Lord God is my strength, and He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, and makes me walk on my high places.
Job 23:10 He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
