Mountain top - Now what? ⛰🏔

 I remember waking up one morning thinking - I didn’t necessarily have anything on my to do list for that day. I sat down to pray and my heart was filled with gratitude and thankfulness for how God had answered my prayers. I had just come out of a storm.. a wild storm that rocked my entire existence. Going through it I didn’t know if I would survive it or what the answer would be. I could not imagine my life past the storm without answered prayers. I had to walk daily in faith. I had to repeat God’s promises every waking moment even when I didn’t believe them myself. I felt mentally and physically exhausted walking through it daily. I cried out to God to bring me through it and answer my prayers. Even when I submitted myself in His hands to be able to accept His will and yet be able to walk tall believing His will is the best for my life – in the bigger picture, my heart clung to dear life wishing that my prayers will be answered. Needless to say, it was a rough season, a rough storm, and I couldn’t wait for it to end. But after the storm, when everything became peaceful and when you pass the phase of euphoria – then what? Often when I think about storms in life, I feel that my life is like drowning in a rush of wave that pulls me down, where I struggle to keep my head above waters. Finally the wave subsides and I come up for fresh air, take a breath or two, feeling the wind in my face, breathing it in, then another wave hits. This has been my life constantly. I sometimes wonder that God keeps me in the valley longer because that is where my heart is closest to Him; the valley is where I cry out; the storm is where I lean on to Him and hear His voice constantly. I have a hard time doing that on my mountain tops. I get distracted in the calm.

In fact the word of God tells us to be happy. The scripture commands us to ‘Rejoice’, ‘be of good cheer’, ‘do not be afraid’, ‘give thanks’. I believe God not only wants us to be happy, but He created us to be happy. I wrestled with the thought of how I could stay close, lean on and listen to my savior in the season of happiness just as I do in the midst of the storm. I realized I needed to be ‘in love’ with God and not be in love with the 'idea of loving God’. I needed the presence of God in my life every waking moment regardless of the season of life I am in. My love for God should not only be expressed when I desperately cling to him asking to deliver me from the fire, but also while I am on the mountain top viewing the breathtaking beauty of His creation and taking in the gentle breeze and enjoying everything around me. Even in that moment of calmness, my heart needs to desperately desire to be in His presence, not to cry out for deliverance, but to share the joy I feel, to talk about the daily happenings, to hear His gentle voice whispering His plans for me, my life, my family, my children, my church.

Everyone loves the feeling of being in love. Our emotions are heightened, we feel exhilarated. Spiritually, we have ‘mountain top experience’ where we feel intimate with God. The feeling we have after a great time of worship or after a spirit filled sermon. Yet at times, we come to a low point where we don’t really feel as close to God. It is in those times that I need to know God is still there, He is walking right beside me and I need my ears tuned to the frequency of His voice. I need to feel my hand in His and know that I can still reach out to lean on Him. His heart rejoices over me – Zephaniah 3:17 says: ‘He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you but will rejoice over you with singing’. I need to discern that God placed me on the mountain top to reflect on who I have become because of the storm. I shouldn’t be caught up in the rhythm of everyday life, instead I should grow my roots deeper into the word and learn to practice the lessons learned while I was in the rough patch. I need to surrender, I need to submit, I need extravagant faith on my mountain top.

Written by

Anu Varghese