Hinds feet on high places
Fall semesters always feel like a distinguished chapter — one that has a main idea, but one that so naturally carries on to the following page. There is a distinguished beauty that comes with the changing of seasons too.
A part of my journal from November,
Each individual leaf is intricately changing, full of purpose. It changes in small ways, being refined and tended to, while at the same time the whole tree looks completely renewed, full of rich color. This is the work the Lord is doing in me — and He promises to sustain us in the change.
—
I have had the joy of reading Hinds Feet on High Places with my small group and the book has been such a tangible summary of what the Lord has been reminding me of this semester.
When thinking about this short read, summer into fall felt very much like Much-Afraid being accompanied by Sorrow and Suffering. Challenging, but also refining — learning about the realness of the valleys that are talked about in Psalm 23 and the sorrow and suffering that comes with our broken world. The Lord has blessed with me such a pure, goodness-filled childhood and I could not be more thankful, and somehow this makes all the gross parts of the world sting a little bit more than usual. I have learned that though this may be a hard thing (being so aware of how broken our world and we are), it is one of the most beautiful things because I understand what it means to long for heaven. The tug and pull of these emotions are confusing, but also completely and fully rooted in truth, biblical. It’s actually not confusing at all.
(1 Cor 14:33) “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace.”
What a deep exhale. Confusion never comes from the Lord.
(2 Cor 10:5) “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”
I have learned and felt how real our enemy is and boy does he want to confuse us. The enemy wants us to question, making things more complicated. When really, it is simple. The Lord tells us to give our worries, fears, and sorrows to him, and to trust.
True dependence.
Daily bread.
There is so much comfort in the promise of daily bread.
I have been clinging to this comfort (daily bread), true dependence and trust, and the promise of the Lords care and sovereignty through it all and I will continue to as I learn more about the inconsistency of the our flesh and world.
The valley may have felt low and long, but one that I now know was simply a dip in the purposeful pilgrimage the Lord has set aside for me.
—
Here are more loved parts of my journal from the fall — things I have copied down from what I have read, thoughts, and prayers. Things that continue to ground me as I learn what it looks like to walk through a valley —
Lord, you have been guiding me through a valley like Much-Afraid. Gently refining me along the way to further know you and glorify you, knowing that the green pastures, the still waters, and the mountains are near. My Good Shepherd, I feel the lush green grass under my feet, I hear the gentle stream, and I see the valley behind me. I trust you.
From Hinds Feet on High Places, Then she gaped again with bewilderment and delight, for instead of the common, ugly stones that she had gathered from the altars along the way, there fell into her hands a heap of glorious, sparkling jewels, very precious and very beautiful. Behold I lay thy stones with fair colors.
The Lord takes our troubles and makes them beautiful. Ugly stones to rich colored jewels.
From Gentle and Lowly, “A time ripened settling into the assurance of embrace.”
Lord, you continue to show me your gentle hand, knitting together every little thing. As soon as I begin to worry, you remind me of Your goodness. You are sovereign and you are faithful. During the season in the valley, you called me to trust, to learn what it means to truly depend on you.
Now, as I continue on towards the end of the valley in surrender and trust, you provide gentle reassurance. You don’t have to, but you continue to place one thing after another on my calendar, reminding me that you see and hear, and that you are in control. Tangible evidence of the truth I was depending on in the valley.
From Hinds Feet on High Places, He helps me to understand at last the reason why we are born into this fallen world and are entrusted with earthly mortal life. It is that we may learn, in a way which perhaps we could not do in heaven, how to abandon ourselves to loving God, who imagines and creates only the highest possible goodness.
—
Sometimes I am overwhelmed with the Lords intentionality, the Lords goodness. How rare, how rich, how beautiful. He continues to place such true people in my life, ones that know when to listen, when to laugh, when to give wisdom. People that understand. People that pray often. He draws my eyes to trees that ground me. He draws my ears to the sound of our church singing. He draws my heart to comfort. I have tasted and seen, on the mountaintops and even in the valley, and what a gift that He promises to continue to do so.
