I recommend as a great read! It may surprise you. I am proud of those whom I have had the chance to disciple and it is always a joy when they send me great concepts like this. enjoy Pastor Scott The Lowest Point – Up on the Mountaintop… • Ephesians 6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Read Ephesians 6 Some studies today in Christianity use the mountaintop experience as the focus of their study. They talk of the “high “Christians experience on their walk, a feeling of euphoria, happiness and accomplishment. This is a place where everyone wants to strive for in their walk. A “Mountain top experience” is what we call any experience, religious or otherwise, that is uplifting, inspiring, life-changing, exhilarating, illuminating. Who wouldn’t want to be there!?? I just lived through a mountaintop experience…but Well, I am going to throw a huge curve ball into the typical mountaintop experience. I am going to take you to a TOTAL paradigm shift of your thoughts. See, you got it all wrong. Or should I say – I had it all wrong. My mountaintop was the lowest point of my life. Yes, you heard me correct. The absolute lowest point…up on the mountain. God had been preparing me for years before he took me on my journey, but I had no idea where I was going. I had no clue how far he would have to take me to get His point across. There were many times I wondered if I had changed my life’s direction sooner, would I have actually ever reached this understanding. I cannot answer that question, but I can tell you what I experienced. But first, let me tell you a little about me… I have always been a strong independent woman with the attitude “if you want something done right you gotta do it yourself.” You could say, I am stubborn… yes. But I always felt that I was stubborn when it came to doing the right thing. Or maybe it was just those things “I” deemed to be the right thing. I am sure God laughed and shook his head at me more than once. I have always given 110% to those I love, and never expected anything in return. I do things for others because it is one of my spiritual gifts…. Acts of Service. It fulfills my life to make others smile. I firmly believe that I am accountable for MY actions and cannot control the responses or actions of others in any situation, nor is it my job to do so. God will judge me for my actions, not theirs. However, there is a dark side this perspective. I say it is a dark side because it can lead us to a very dark place if we do not learn how to rein it in, and balance it in relation to how others will and often “do” respond to us. If we don’t find balance there WILL come a point when you give and give and give of yourself without ever receiving the support or appreciation or let’s just say it… Never receiving the true “LOVE” that you are yearning for… where your heart will become jaded. Every time someone does not respond the way YOU expect… or again let’s be honest – the way you want them to… A small little shard of your heart will harden. Eventually, those shards build up to a point where you have a heart that is hard, bitter and yet still so very, very fragile like a piece of precious crystal. If it gets hit just a little bit in the wrong direction – it shatters into a million pieces. How powerful …. A million shards of rejection, callousness, slaps in the face, apathy, loneliness, being taken for granted, belittlement…They were easy to handle one at a time. You could brush them off…But all together – they are a time bomb sitting in your chest. AND - That is EXACTLY where God took me. He took me to that point. Yes, you heard me correctly. I was taken to a point of excruciating pain by my loving God. That won’t make sense to a lot of people in our “FEEL GOOD” society, and “let’s not hurt anyone’s feelings” world, but God never told us His way was the easy way. He wanted me there. He also knew that I would hurt once I got there. Yes, IT WAS HIS PLAN FOR MY LIFE. He took me to the bottom. Ok – you may be saying – what does THAT have to do with a mountaintop? Sounds more like a valley experience. Well – now you need to prepare yourself for a paradigm shift. Are you ready? ________________________________________ Sometimes we get angry. Sometimes we get angry at God. But He still loves us, because he knows exactly what we are feeling. Thank you God for loving me when I am unlovable. Things happen that knock us down, and we crawl back down to the valley. The safe valley of things that are familiar. Where we can wallow in our circumstances, and feel sorry for ourselves. Where we prepare for the journey that we know we need to take. It is always safe in the valley. But there is no growth there. In the valley we can reflect on all that makes us frustrated, all that hurts us. In the valley we can be comforted by our friends and family. We can be told how much we are loved and cherished by those not in our circumstances. But we still feel like an outsider. Disconnected. Safe in our hole surrounded by the lush green grass, not far from the flowing river of fresh water from our comfortable surroundings. But this is where we only absorb. We take in. Nothing goes out. We are fed by the ripe fruit and fresh vegetation. We get fat and lazy. All the while, our faith screaming to be put to the test. Down in the valley, we can talk a good talk. Anyone can while surrounded by comfort. But that means absolutely nothing. Some live in the valley their whole lives. Scared to venture up the mountain because the mountain represents sacrifice, and patience and a test of will. The mountain is an unknown terrain… so much can go wrong and probably will. The mountain is lonely because most will only walk with you for a while, before they realize- your mountain is NOT the mountain they were meant to climb. Oh, they will pat you on the back, and they will hold your hand for a while encouraging the climb, saying “I will be there for you.” They will even give you some directions on how to face the mountain. But, they can’t go to the top. It is your mountain, not theirs. That is how God intended it to be. Once they leave your side, you will need to focus on the climb in front of you. You are the ONLY one who can keep putting one foot in front of the other. You will have to build your own fire to stay warm. You will have to gather your own water to drink, and food to eat. You will be surrounded by the tools, but WILL you have the strength and soundness of mind to use them? Or will you give up and turn back….. Sometimes you will be so tired. Your muscles will want to give out. You think there is absolutely no way you can take one more step forward…. But when you turn around and look, you have come way too far to turn back. You MUST find the strength. It gets dark, so dark at night. These are the most frightening moments, you are alone on the mountain in the black night…. You can hear the voices and the prayers of your friends and family in your head. They believe in you. “We have your back.” “You are a strong person.” “You are so good and worthy of good things.” “Everything is going to work out.” But it is dark and so, so lonely up here. They are not the ones facing the struggles and the demons ahead on this mountain; demons that try to defeat you with fear, and discouragement. The demons whisper to your soul --- “Why are you doing this?? What do you even think you will accomplish. Nothing will ever change… You have so far to go, you can’t make it. REST….. GO BACK….. BE COMFORTABLE….. WALLOW!” So you pray and you fight back by taking one second at a time because that is all you can handle. Your body is screaming at you to rest, because this climb is so steep. The rain starts beating you down and there is nowhere to hide from the elements. Wind, rain, cold…. Turn around. No… I cannot turn around. God brought me here, I chose to make the climb, He will sustain me, He will bless me in this. I cannot see it yet, but I know he will. This is painful, but I can and I will endure. The top if the mountain is in view. I am so tired. My body is screaming at me, my heart is burdened. But I need to get there. It is so lonely up here. No one is here to catch me if I fall. I made the choice to come here, they did not. I knew what I was choosing. The closer I get, the wind is whipping my face….pushing against my body. The rain is soaking me to the soul, trying to defeat my will. But I won’t stop now. I am too close to the peak…. As I emerge from the trees to the crest of the mountain, it stands narrow jutting out from the safety of the mountainside. The wind is still blowing, and the rain is beating me, knocking me down into the mud, but I stand up…. I AM HERE. There is no room for anyone or anything on the peak, but me….. Just me. I am tired, I am spent, I am standing with my arms open in the middle of nowhere in the rain screaming from the bottom of my lonely soul into the nothingness with every drop of energy I have left….and just as I feel I will collapse back into the cold mud or fall forward into the emptiness…. HE catches me. My Lord grabs hold of me…. He straightens my back, plants my feet and tells me “This is where you need to be – where no one else can stand with you….BUT ME.” God took me to the top so I could see nothing, nothing BUT HIM. No comfort in others--- JUST HIM. No safety in the valley -- JUST HIM ON THE MOUNTAINTOP. He took ME out of ME….. And filled it with HIM. I was at my lowest… on my mountaintop. But that is the point where God showed me HIS strength and HIS mercy and HIS love. He showed up… when I thought I was finished. God did that before too. He did it for his Son, Jesus. On a lonely hill. On a cross. God met his Son there. Cori Beasenburg
Posted on: Fri, 02 Aug 2013 00:44:39 +0000
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