If there are times in your life that you want to go back and watch over and over…. this would be one of them.
I have been to New Life Ranch around ten times now, and I was always terrified of the zipline. I wasn’t necessarily scared of the zipping… I was afraid of the climbing. I didn’t think I was strong enough… I was too fat… I wanted to let everyone else go… and the excuses continued.
BUT this year, I decided I was going to try no matter what. I also had my great friend, Hollie, there with me. We were determined to do it together. Maybe we wouldn’t make it up the whole way… Maybe we would pass out or pee our pants… Maybe we would die… but by-golly we were going to try.
Just like a lot of other things in my life, I don’t think I would have made it without her. We laughed our way to the top… slowly but surely. I wasn’t gonna back out because she was doing it, and she wasn’t gonna back out because I was doing it.
Eventually we made it (applause) and even jumped off the 60’ high platform to zip our way into the history books. Okay, maybe not the history books, but definitely our “I can’t believe I did that,” autobiographies. It was a great feeling…. conquering a fear… surprising yourself… seeing that you are stronger than you thought you were.
That is us up there.
And then zipping. Me, Nate, Hollie, and Paige.
We are talking with the youth about the “storms of their lives,” and I can’t help but see a great lesson in my zipline experience. I was terrified of climbing up the pole. I let fear keep me from a feeling of accomplishment, freedom, and self-worth. I never thought that the day would come, where I could actually climb the thing. But, when you resolve to make the best of a situation, stay positive, and put it all in God’s hands, eventually things will work out.
Sometimes it is scary. Sometimes it is shaky. Sometimes you have to laugh at your fears. No matter how you make it through… You make it through. And lately, I have been so blessed to see that God doesn’t expect you to go through those storms alone. He puts people in your life to get you through… To help encourage and push you… To pray for you… To just be a listening ear…To love you through the storms.
”Hope in the LORD! Be strong! Let your heart take courage! Hope in the LORD!”
Psalm 27:14
All you who wait for the LORD, be strong and let your heart take courage.”
Psalm 31:24
Cast your cares on the LORD, and he will sustain you;
he will never let the righteous fall.
Psalm 55:22
If you are in the middle of a storm, can see a storm coming, or just getting over one… know that God is in control. Know that someday it will end. Know that God will put great friends in your life to help get you through.
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