Lifting my eyes to the hills

This is not the promised land that I expected.

After a long walk in the desert, enduring loneliness and uncertainty, and after many prayers, my prince came! And as we brushed the sand off our feet and took our first steps on the moist, plush green grass of our promised land last June, I looked to the horizon and saw a beautiful paradise. Of course there would be difficult times, bumps in the road, we weren't naive. But with God we would overcome them and continue on our journey unfaltered. It was finally time to enjoy life, and to reap with joy the tears that we had both sown.

As we soon came to find out, apparantly our promised land is not encased in a bubble. It is not Eden. There are days when the sun is shining brightly! And then there are days when the clouds roll in and we face a storm. Or a torrential rain. And we look to the skies and wonder where God went.

"Our promised lands are characterized by the presence of victory, not the absence of opposition." ~ Beth Moore

God is busy with me. Teaching me things that I won't learn in the sunshine. Things about my heart that I'd rather keep in the dark, thank you very much. I am thankful that Jesus has kept my heart soft enough to endure His molding and shaping and stretching. But it hurts sometimes and it scares me, this journey.

There are some pretty deep valleys and steep mountains here in our promised land that are not easy to climb. That we did not expect to find. Hills, yes. Ditches, sure. We were prepared for that. But we are following Jesus, and He certainly would save us from anything dangerous or overwhelming. He'll lead us along the safe and comfortable paths, right?

Lord, have You gotten us lost? Did You forget about us? Did we stray away from You and not even realize it?

"No, child. I'm here. And I lead only to victory. If you keep following Me, you'll get there."