You know I haven’t seen the recently-released movie about this peak, Lord. It’s just where You took me this morning, as I basked in Your Presence.
You took me to Mt. Everest Hope. The opposite of the ocean depth despair I once felt.
At the time, I didn’t realize Your love was deeper still. I didn’t realize You were right there in the depths with me. You had to be… or I would have drowned in my own tears and been Lost at Sea, in sorrow forever.
But You had a different plan.
“Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your Presence? If I go up to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in the depths, You are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast.” (Psalm 139:7-10)
In the natural, Mt. Everest is a foreboding place. A place of CHALLENGE. A place where the body, mind, emotions and will are tested to their limits. Sometimes, beyond their limits.
I would never choose to scale that peak in the natural. But in the Spirit…?
I have been there more times than I can count! 🙂
Sometimes You lift me there in a moment of unrestrained joy!
“For who is God besides the Lord? And who is the Rock except our God? It is God who arms me with strength and keeps my way secure. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; He causes me to stand on the heights.” (Psalm 18:31-33)
Sometimes You invite me to fly there, with You as the wind beneath my wings!
“… those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)
You help me walk, run, fly — and dance! — to places that are beyond myself and my circumstances!
“You turned my wailing into dancing; You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing Your praises and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise You forever.” (Psalm 30:11-12)
Mt. Everest. With its summit at 5.6 miles above sea level, it is the highest mountain peak on Earth.
The Pacific Ocean. With its floor at 6.8 miles below sea level, it is the deepest ocean on Earth.
But what about in the Spirit, Lord? How far is Mt. Everest Hope from Pacific Ocean Despair? Thankfully, Lord, not as far as the reach of Your Love.
“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:17b-9)
Full to overflowing this morning, Beloved…
Diving deep into Your Presence…
Climbing ever upward…
Abba’s Girl