Patrick and I celebrated 22 years of marriage last year! He asked me what I wanted to do for our anniversary For the life of me, I am not sure why I gave the answer that proceeded to fly out of my mouth..."climb a mountain"! So that is exactly what we did. We set out to climb Mount Monadnock in New Hampshire. It is said to be one of the most climbed mountains in the world. From the very first step up, my thighs began to scream, my back ached, and my mind insisted this was a much too difficult task for me. Anxiety filled me and a heaviness loomed for a while. However, the further I climbed, the greater the hope, the easier the steps as I came into reach of my goal - the peak! Reaching the top was beautiful, breath taking, and even angelic! Now I am very serious when I say this, at the top of the mountain on this particular day and at the specific time that we reached the top, there was a hallelujah choir singing! To top it off, my devotion for the day's scripture was Romans 12:12 "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer."
Hope got me to the top, patience kept me climbing and faithfulness kept me from quitting! This works in mountain climbing, marriage, and missions.