Mountains

In 2017 I was able to do a lot of traveling through the United States. I did a 6 months road trip that took me through 26 states and Canada. As part of that road-trip I drove from Texas to Alaska, going through Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and Canada. Driving alone, just me and my Husky, I got to spend a lot of time listening to music, or in silence.

There is a beauty in silence, for one, we hear God’s voice better. But not every day was good and exciting, yet I kept going. In that time, I learned this lesson:

In life, especially as Christians, problems seem to come one after the other and it’s like a never-ending road (pun intended). In my travels, I realize that often times I would see a mountain, far in the horizon, and think they looked great. However, as I drove closer towards the mountain, the bigger it would get and that was a little unsettling. The first few times though, that was mostly exciting, then I noticed a scary trend.

Driving through the mountain, and away from the small towns, my phone GPS would lose signal. Even though it would not stop telling me to keep going, I didn’t know if I was going the right way or if it had re-routed. No signal meant that if something would have happened, thank God it didn’t, I wouldn’t have been able to call anyone.

Another problem was that, at times I would not find a place to have lunch, so I spent most of my days without eating anything for hours. I would have breakfast at the hotel, and I would not eat again until the end of the day, at the next hotel.

After a few days I thought: this journey is a lot like the experiences one live, specially following God. Often, we see something coming… we don’t think it could become a problem… but we do know that it will get bigger… we continue our route, plans… until suddenly, we have a gigantic mountain in front of us and no other option but to go through it.

God knows everything, and sometimes He is the one that send us through that route. But even if we are counting with our GPS (God’s positioning system), we get scared and feel lost because we focus on that mountain. God usually tells us what direction to go, but no further instructions until the next turn. We wonder, did I get lost? Did God re-routed me and didn’t told me?

We pray, “God, help me”. God does, but farther down our path, we see another mountain and we are, once again, anxious. We know that through these mountains there’s only valleys of solitude, nothing around and no-where to eat. Those are the times when people turn their back on us, and nothing seems to be going right.

Then I realized something. The first few days I would get bored and anxious because there was nothing around, only mountains, no phone service, no food…But always, always, always, at the end of the day, I would find a place to eat and the mountains were behind me.

The mountains WERE behind me!!

So, after a few days, cause sometimes we are stubborn and hard-headed, I told myself ‘keep going Maria, do not stop, do not get impatient. If you stop you it won’t solve anything, you don’t have signal! … just keep going and trust that if God has previously put other mountains behind you, He will do it again. Even if it is to find another mountain, He will get you through the mountain, to the valley and then a town or city.’

It is easy to get discouraged. I have been there, and I am there every now and then, but the key is to remember that you will pass this mountain or God will remove it. Job 9:5 says, ‘he who removes mountains’… here Job was recognizing in front of his friends the mightiness of God.

Want a simpler example? Remember the first mountain, remember how you felt, how you didn’t know what to do, how impatient you were. You thought you were going insane, or that you would not make it.

Think of that moment vs now.

You’ll realize that you have passed that mountain, that it is behind you. Yes, you will find another one. Life is a road trip; God’s journey is a road trip. That’s why people call it ‘the journey’. The Apostle Paul calls it a race (2 Tim 4:7), because it is like going for miles and thus you will certainly find mountains, valleys and deserted roads.

When I finished the Alaskan Hwy, it was a total if 1,700+ miles, cannot remember exactly. There were times I got desperate. I saw beautiful mountains, I wanted to get closer to take pictures, there were lakes and rivers… but there were times that there was nothing around me. There were times when that mountain I wanted to get closer to, was annoying me because that was all I could see, the mountain. But after a while, it was behind me, and I said ‘okay, I passed that one, it’s behind me, unto the next one’. I didn’t get desperate anymore.

Don’t get anxious, I know the journey isn’t easy. Been there, done that, literally bough the t-shirt. But if that road trip taught me something, is that every mountain, every problem we face in life, especially as Christians, have an expiration day. Even if we find another mountain, that mountain will also go away. Maybe not even go away, but we will pass through and see it behind us.

We will go through hardships, but the most important thing is not to forget that if God helped us before, He will again. Even if it is over and over and over, God will do it again.

What’s more, that road trip for me was a lot of fun. If you don’t face mountains and valleys, you won’t grow and have experiences. You will have a boring life. There’s a quote I like that says, “Ships are safe in the peer, but that is not what they were made for”. We are the same, we are safer when nothing is happening but that is not what we were made for.

The Word of God says, “In this world you will have tribulation...” (John 16:33), we will have persecution. I know it’s a lot and it may seem like it’s never ending, and you may give me all your reasons to think that way, but if you know my story, you’ll know why I say this. I am currently surrounded by mountains (figuratively), and though discouragement has come to bug me, I keep reminding myself of this experience.

One last word, do not be discouraged, God will get you through this mountain. Even if it is for a minute, you will be able to forget about the next mountain by rejoicing about the one you just left behind.