Hiking








"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people."                            
                                                          -Ephesians 6:18


I love going to the woods.  It's one my greatest pleasures.  Sometimes, this 63 year old body does not want to do what I want to do.  And most of the time I make it try anyway.  A few weeks ago, my grandson wanted me to hike with him to where they had been hunting.  Of course, I wanted to go, because I know my time with him is short.  When that driver's license gets in his hands, he won't need me to cart him around anymore.  So I grab the opportunities.  Anyway, we started off.  Luckily we took the four wheeler for part of it, but then there was the walking part.  Through a field, an old creek bed, under low branches of trees.  Pretty rugged for this old gal.  But I didn't stop.  I followed him all the way and all the way back to ( thank you Lord) the four wheeler.  Tough terrain.  Did I whine and stop?  No way.  I was going with him.  Persistent and determined.  To the end   I tell you this story because God has made a correlation with me recently about this and prayer.  What is prayer REALLY?  Is it a short "Hi, how are ya, here's what I want?  Or is it more of a long, difficult hike in the woods?  For over a year, God has been prompting me to dig deeper into prayer, to learn about what it really is, to stretch myself beyond what I have ever known before.  And now He's getting personal.

I should have known.  When I spend time with Him , He always gets personal eventually.  Never fails.  This time, He got really personal with the book "The Circle Maker" by Mark Batterson.  Some people from my old stomping grounds, Pate ECC, were reading it and making comments about it on Facebook.  I was looking for my next book, found this one, and decided to get it.  Wow.  Was I in for a life-changer.

I have thought for a long time that "books" , especially Christian books, were just an extension of what Scripture says.  That they couldn't possibly have a new twist that could be any better than what the Word tells me.  And I was right about that.  But sometimes a book will make you re-examine your stand on something.  Make you dig deeper, think of something you haven't thought of before, or take you in a direction you did not plan to go.  "The Circle Maker" has done that for me.

There are a lot of deep ideas in this book.  I wrote a short post on Facebook the other day about our tendency to settle for less, to put God in a box, thinking even HE can't get this one to happen.  And as I read this book and scripture, God is leading me to continue with the two prayers I had long ago given up on.  So at this point, I am literally drawing  circles around two names as I fervently pray for these long unanswered prayers.As God always does, when I let Him, He's making circles around me as I make the literal ink-drawn circles.  Lots of thoughts about that.  Had I put God in a box over these two issues for so long- believed they were impossible dreams forever, that I no longer feel as desperate for them?  Probably.  When you feel you have no hope in something, you "go around" it.  You cut a different trail a different way, one that has few thorns and is less bumpy.  One that is shorter.  Does it reach the same destination?  No....it can't.  But this is a trail you CAN walk, so you walk it.  That other trail  is too rough---- it takes longer, it has a lot of brush and turns, and you're not sure you can do it anyway.  When I do that,  I have  forgotten that God is the consummate hiker?  That NO terrain is too tough for Him?  Problem is, He wants me to hike that trail with Him.  Persistently.  Even if I can only take 1 or 2 steps at a time.  Even I stumble over downed trees and big rocks  .Even when I think I can't make it.  I do it with my grandson, why do I seem to refuse to do it with God?

Sometimes when we see a miracle of God, time lets us "forget" it.  Well, maybe not literally forget it, but the amazement fades.  That miracle turns into 'normal' somehow, and we just start looking for our next answer to prayer.  Kind of ungrateful, don't you think?  When I sit here and think of the absolute MIRACLES God has performed in my life......I mean really think about it....there are so many---healed grandchildren, people saved from alcohol, lives completely turned around by the grace of God, a beautiful life from the ashes of divorce....I could go on and on.  But in the day to day, I don't tend to remember those gifts as well as I should.   

I can really remember the unanswered ones.  The ones where God has said "Not now", or "No", or even the ones where I can't seem to get any answer at all.  Those are the ones I seem to fixate on.  Why haven't you given me  this one God?  I want this......sure I like all those other treasures you gave me, but I want THIS!  Sometimes it  becomes like a child throwing a temper tantrum wanting more, more, more when already covered with toys of every kind.

These two prayers, prayers I know are within His will because His Word tells me so, may not be answered the way I want them to be.  I understand that.  But that does not excuse my responsibility to draw my circles around them, put on my hiking boots, and hike  with Him.  Fervently.  Consistently.  Passionately.  Not stopping when the trail gets dark and full of thorns. 

And what if they aren't answered?  Then what?  Or what if the answer is not what I want?  Music speaks to me sometimes, and the song "Even If" by Mercy Me has really become my theme song lately.  Here are part of the lyrics....listen to the whole song on the link below.

I know You're able and I know You can
Save through the fire with Your mighty hand
But even if You don't
My hope is You alone
They say it only takes a little faith
To move a mountain
Well good thing
A little faith is all I have, right now
But God, when You choose
To leave mountains unmovable
Oh give me the strength to be able to sing
It is well with my soul
I know the sorrow, and I know the hurt
Would all go away if You'd just say the word
But even if You don't
My hope is You alone
You've been faithful, You've been good
All of my days
Jesus, I will cling to You
Come what may

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6fA35Ved-Y


So I will put on those hiking boots, draw those circles, and get on the trail with Him.  Not gonna give up this time, remembering that 'Even If'.......I will cling to Him.

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