The Climb

TERI ANN FREY 

Do you ever feel like the path you have set out on is too hard? That the steep slopes and rocky roads will never give way to an easier journey? Christ calls us to journey with Him through the good and bad, the hard and the joyful. But every step of the way He is with us. 

I am in a season of life that sometimes feel like those rocky and steep slopes will never become easier. I look ahead and see giant before me. Being a mom, a student, an employee has different challenges each day in their own right, but together seems impossible at times. 

Sunday, while I was looking at the mountain of homework before me, I heard a distinct call to go to the physical mountains and take a hike. My son and I set out to Steamboat rock thinking the hike had to be easier than it appeared, right? At first it didn’t seem horrible. The path down to the slope that starts the climb up to the rock was exhilarating and encouraging. The pup and his boy raced down the hill and started the climb ahead of me. As we rose, we quickly began to realize that the hill was more than a hill. It was steep. It was slippery in spots due to the moisture. The grass was low in the beginning but quickly rose above my head in spots. The trail itself went from open to two ruts to a single line down to a very narrow, but well-worn path. Jesse kept asking to be done, to turn back as it was too hard. At one point I had to sit down and catch my breath. The trail was harder than I expected. As I sat there looking out over the Big Horns, the Lord spoke. “I called you. I never said it would be easy, but I will be with you.” 

As I stood to continue the hike, my lungs quit burning and my heart rate slowed. I could do this. I could make the climb to the top, even if it took longer than I anticipated. Sitting at the top of the trail, but still at the base of Steamboat, I felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. Three years ago, I would physically not have been able to make it up even the first part of the slope, let alone to base of this rock. Progression over perfection. When we are called by God, He is not putting a time limit on when things must be completed by. It is not as though he is going to say, “Oh! It is taking you way too long to accomplish anything. I will find someone else.” God’s time and our time are two different things. 

When He calls us to a path He has laid out before us, He knows we will struggle. We will fall and we will find our footing. We will need breaks and we will need encouragement. Each step of the way He is with us. 

“For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength” (Phil 4:13). When things seem overwhelming lean into the arms of Christ. He will provide and strengthen you each step of the way.