“Even though some may not have been previewed to your growing process, still allow them the comfort of being under your shade.

Let them feel the peace, calmness, and stillness.

Don’t turn them away.”

.

Growth is difficult and hard because not everyone will understand it.

Not everyone will agree with what it looks like.

Few will appreciate it until they see how it can benefit them in the end.

The journey towards growth can be a lonely one.

 

Yes, we are not left to go through this life alone, but there are moments where your journey will take you to places that few have ventured- which causes a separation in experience.

 

It’s easier to climb a mountain with those who are in the same space as you.

You’re in sync. You’re moving at the same pace. Your energy is matched and there is harmony- as there should be.

Yet, there is another path less spoken about and sought out.

Where the conditions are not as pleasant.

Where the terrain is not as mapped out.

 

Where the elements hit you and the shelter in which you have is God’s voice telling you, “You will come out alive and well.”

 

You climb the side of the mountain where few have tread because you’ve been called to.

 

Some might ask

Why are you climbing your mountain?

 

Because I’ve decided to trust God with my very life, and if this is the path He has laid out for me to venture upon, then I will fully accept it knowing and understanding that it will test me in ways that I have never been tested. It will place requirements on my mind and body that will attempt to break me.

That I may look around and just see me and the mountain, and scale it, using the tools I have been equipped with to endure the journey.

 

Like Elijah, I’ve been under the shade of God’s presence as He has supplied me with everything I have needed.

 

Like Elisha, I have kissed my loved ones goodbye and parted with a life I have known, to follow the one, who is greater than I.

 

Embracing a journey that isn’t about claiming a position but achieving an even closer relationship with The One who made me.

 

I will forever, follow His voice.

I will forever, yield to His will.

I will forever, shift my position of comfort to fulfill what He is asking of me, in spite of the cost.

 

So my movement might be different.

My focus might be shifting.

My silent stance of defiance may be off-putting to those who may not understand, what this sort of journey demands…

 

Like Joseph, there may be unforeseen pits.

 

Like Paul, there may be times of shipwreck.

 

God prepares us for the unknowns of life, even when people may not.

 

Preparation is Key

 

Harsh times will come even when you’re on the right path.

 

Sometimes you have to look at people and say

 

“I’M PREPARING TO CLIMB A MOUNTAIN”

 

So,

Don’t tell me that I can’t.

Don’t tell me that it’s life-threatening, because I understand the risks.

Don’t shout out to me from below to ask me to turn back.

 

There is something considerably greater to obtain than my years of enduring the lessons of the valley.

 

You were not meant to stay in the valley forever.

 

The years of training have turned into an assignment, and all I know is that God will get me there.

 

So as I climb,

He will speak, as he has spoken before.

He will provide how he has provided before.

He will heal anything broken along the way.

He will keep me from losing my mind.

He will keep that fire burning bright within my heart.

 

He will remind me of what will definitely be tested along the way, which is “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

 

Philippians 4:11–13 KJV

“Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: everywhere and in all things, I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

 

A lot of people like the “full” and “abound” side of their relationship with the Lord but when the “abased”, “hungry” and “suffer need” appears and challenges them, they take a step back from their pursuit of growing in their relationship with the Lord.

 

We must learn how to be content in whatever season we’re in.

We must learn to better respect each others seasons.

 

I’ve been hated. Wrongly talked about, Misunderstood and Disrespected, but none of those things matter as much as my being obedient to the Lord.

 

No, it’s not right. It’s not fair

Yes, it hurts and causes injury and requires healing, but there comes a time that distance is required because what lies ahead, far outweighs the things that have been experienced.

 

When circumstances shift from personal comfort to life or death, you can’t view things the same, as you always have.

You have to take extra precautions.

You have to have increased awareness, and be more knowledgeable about what might be faced and how to handle it.

 

*When you’re climbing at altitudes you’ve never been before, you better learn how to properly breathe before you get there.

 

*If you’re not a good listener become better at hearing. Why, because if the Lord tells you to go right or left, to place your hand here, and your foot there, you must learn to hear him clearly to survive the journey.

 

When Elijah was fleeing from Jezebel he went and sat under a tree by a river. The angel of the Lord fed him and gave him time to rest. Yet, when it was time to get moving, Elijah had to move.

 

In the midst of your climb, the Lord might cause you to rest.

He might cause you to power through unbearable circumstances.

He might cause you to move in a direction that not everyone is called to go, but as you listen to his voice, you will be guided along a safe path.

 

For those who have gone through the valley, your instruction on how to get through that season of life is vital for those enduring it NOW.

 

For those preparing to climb the mountain before you, I feel for you as well because I’m at the same place.

 

The mountain is bigger than you.

And no, it won’t be an easy journey to your destination.

You won’t have people all around you to both encourage and discourage you. But what you do have is what has already been developed and deposited in you from prior seasons.

 

You can trust what you’ve learned.

You can trust what God did.

You can rely on what held you down through tough times before- God’s word!

 

Stay true to the course.

Don’t divert

Don’t get sidetracked.

 

Be Focused, Precise and CLIMB!