Growing up in the Midwest there is little to anything that remotely resembles a mountain. When I was young we rarely had the opportunity to travel and when we did it was to Wisconsin. Although further north we would see bigger hills that to our small world were mountains. It wasn’t until we were first married that I finally had a chance to experience mountains for myself. I of course had been told about them by people who vacationed to Colorado or seeing them via the internet. But, there is no amount of describing or even the highest quality cameras that can give justice to the beauty and majesty of mountains.
When we moved to California it was really my first time being able to see mountains and before we left we had the opportunity to experience Big Bear Mountain for ourselves. My favorite however was our trip to Yosemite after Jonathan came home from his 2nd deployment. We weren’t able to have a traditional honeymoon and he was deployed when we celebrated our one year wedding anniversary so we decided to save all we could to celebrate all three events together. The mountains in Yosemite were breathtaking and we were able to do a few hikes while we were there. That trip is still holds some of our best memories.
Fast forward 12years, to us being in Montana now for a year. Which has completely opened my eyes and changed my perspective of mountains in so many ways. We have now been in our new place for two months…hard to believe it has flown by already?! One of the most special features of the cabin we are in is that it has a view to a mountain range. Being in the Valley we are surrounded by mountains in every direction. But like with most things in life it all depends on how clear it is. Even though we know they are there, we can forget about their presence.
In January we had the opportunity to have some friends come for a few brief days. We were very excited for them to come and see Montana. Even though we had done our best to explain the views we just couldn’t give them any justice. It truly is something that one must experience firsthand. As luck would have it while they were here the Valley was completely covered in clouds the entire time! They never got to see any mountains or even the views from Flathead lake due to the overcast.
In addition to us being off campus it has limited my ability to go anywhere. I am secluded in the home with the kids and with it being winter time there definitely is a new understanding to the term ‘cabin fever.’ Every morning though when I wake up, I look out, past the trees to see if it is there …the beautiful, snow topped mountain peek. This past month there were days on end it seemed that it had vanished and slowly in my day to day routine I would forget about it. Until, the sun would come out and the clouds cleared and it was standing in all of its glory. On those days I catch myself just staring…I am reminded of how big our God is and I’m humbled by His love and care for a little nobody like me. He knows every detail about that mountain. How many trees, how many needles on each tree and the design of every snowflake that falls. Every seemingly minute detail He has carefully thought out the design.
How often do we as Christians in our day to day ‘forget’ about our God? We forget what He has done in our lives over the years, we forget the people He has healed, the people whose lives have been radically transformed by Him, we forget that feeling of being overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit or when we dedicated our life to Him.
In the hustle and bustle, we fail to notice the storms of life roll in and when we look to see Him he appears to be hidden unable to see or reach. And in those moments that is when we must hold steadfast to what we know to be true of Him. Who He says He is…who He says we are. And eventually the clouds will clear. It may take hours, days, weeks, months or years but they will. He will be revealed again in all His Glory and you will see and feel the strength and majesty of Him.
“I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
Psalm 121:1-2”