My Rock

In this family, we do a lot of hiking.  Some treks are short, some are longer.  Sometimes we explore with the kids, sometimes my hubby and I make excursions on our own.  Sometimes we traipse through the desert, at other times we climb mountains, and occasionally we even meander down along beach trails.  

Everywhere we go we encounter rock.  Different kinds of rock, but rock nonetheless.  It's everywhere in nature.  I like to think that is one of God's not-so-subtle (though still easy to miss) reminders.  

God is our rock.  He is our stronghold.  He is our fortress.  

Our God will fight for us.  And He is powerful. 

And it doesn't matter what our problem is.  He will be our stronghold.  He will be an unmovable rock that we can anchor to.  

As a mother, I often feel as though I am inadequate.  I feel that I'm never doing enough.  I feel that I'm failing my kids and my husband.  I feel a need to constantly be perfect because otherwise--"Why did you have so many kids if you can't be perfect and have it all together and care for them just so?" Most of the time people don't actually say it out loud, but they say it with their actions, with their eyes, with their sighs and mutterings.  

I realize that some of the crosses I carry as a mother aren't as difficult perhaps as some crosses that others carry.  At the end of May, I wrote a post about comparing ourselves to others and I rather feel that we tend to even compare crosses.  

But God's grace is sufficient.  

Not just for one person who struggles.  

Not just for people with BIG struggles.  

God's grace is sufficient for ALL.  

To me that means that even small crosses {like the kids refusing naps, or potty training accidents, or burning the rice, or having an untidy house} are still crosses that God is happy to help us carry. 

So as I hike along the path of life, I shouldn't be afraid to grab hold of the ROCK no matter what terrain I find myself on.  When I can't feel God because I am traveling through a desert and my soul is parched, I cry out anyway and ask for His grace.  When I come to water and can quench my soul's thirst, I should hold firm to His loving presence.  When I face mountains that seem to ever loom in front of me and climb higher and higher, I must proclaim that God IS my stronghold.  He IS my fortress and my ROCK.  

I can't let others or the circumstances that surround me allow me to lose heart or permit my faith to be shaken.  God is powerful.  God is mighty.  God is my rock.  

And if I cling to the Rock, 

I will not be shaken.