I Have Learned a Few Things About Mountains...

I have learned a few things about mountains over the last 5 months.

 1. Some Mountains Move:

Matthew 17:20- He told them, "Because of your lack of faith. I tell all of you with certainty, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you. 

      When someone tells you it can’t be done without a miracle, that is the perfect time for God to show Himself and move a mountain. We have seen this several times throughout this adoption so much so that we kind of expect that response and then expect to see God move.
      The faith for that is not something we muster up in ourselves such that we can take credit for it, but it something He gives us.    This has been a big lesson.  I don’t think we can talk ourselves into believing in something enough to see God do it.   Likewise I don’t think can get enough people praying on facebook to fill up our faith meter to talk God into it.
      Let’s get back to basics of who God is here.  He is sovereign.  He is going to move that mountain and He invites us to watch Him.   I think giving us faith for it is part of the miracle of inviting us into that process and revealing Himself to us in it.


 2. Some Mountains Aren’t Meant to Move but May be There For Our Protection: 

     This is what I am sitting with most this week.  My biggest fear is that Maggie is going to get sick while in China and may not make it long enough for us to get her.  A wise friend at church pointed out last week that God may have Maggie in the orphanage a little longer to protect her from the flu and all of the other things she would be exposed to this time of year outside of those protective walls.
      I can’t help but wonder how many other things He is protecting us from that we don’t ever see.


 3. If We Try and Climb the Mountain on our Own Strength, We Will Surely Fail: 

      Sometimes when things don’t happen the way that we would like for them to, we decide to do it ourselves.
      I might have been guilty of that a time or two. Problem is, we just end up wearing ourselves out and then more frustrated then we were before the climb.
     Things to remember- It is His mountain, He will never leave us or forsake us, and He who began a good work will be faithful to complete it.


 4. Sometimes We Aren’t Supposed to Move or Climb the Mountain At All : (but rather step into the boat and let the stream of God’s will and timing take us around it while we rest)

      This is the most difficult of all for me because honestly I have a hard time seeing God from the boat and I don’t do slow very well at all.   I have several friends who would love to ride in the boat every time and just soak up the peace of God’s presence in the quiet.   My problem is that I either can’t take my eye off the mountain or when it’s quiet I fear that God is no longer moving and I long for some kind of action.   I know it’s crazy to you resting people.
      Paul says “I have learned to be content in all circumstances”.   I believe those of us who don’t enjoy the stream probably have a problem with contentment.  Which then probably means we have a problem with sacrificing our will for God’s will.
 
      I wanted God to move the mountain of this LOA to get us to China before Chinese New Year, but He hasn’t done that.   Instead I believe He has placed my butt in the boat and set me in the stream. Okay, right now I am standing in the boat and rocking it like crazy because I am so uncomfortable in the stream.   My prayer is that the same faith He gave me to see the mountains move, He will return to me to help me honor Him in the boat.
     Then maybe He will let me out on the other side???