God is very, very good.
We had been planning this particular trip for months. Having just purchased a new trailer and a new vehicle to tow it, we were chomping at the bit to take them out for their maiden voyage. Imagine our disappointment when the weather forecast held nothing but rain for the entire week leading up to the trip, and not just rain, but torrential rain for the designated weekend…Sure, we had a new trailer that didn’t leak, but who wants to camp in the rain?
It was too late to change our plans, however, and besides, we really did need to go out for a weekend before taking the trailer on a long trip, just to “break it in” properly, so instead of revising our plans, we prayed and asked God to give us a good trip, no matter what the weather might be.
God was good. We had a horrible time getting the trailer onto the campsite, but after a few of His miracles (How to Park a Trailer), we were finally set up for the weekend. Thankfully, not only was it not raining, but the sun was out. We thought we’d go for a short hike and then go into town for some dinner, but when the poor car was still overheated from our “parking” efforts, we decided to give it a rest, and we went into the trailer. Immediately it began to rain, and it poured for the rest of the evening. It cleared up by morning, however, giving us a beautiful, cool day with no rain. In fact, it didn’t rain again until during the that night.
As a result of all that rain, however, the trails were so muddy that in places, it was impossible to get through without getting our boots covered in mud. We became quite adept at figuring out ways around the mud. Nonetheless, after an entire mile of the messy goo, we were getting tired of it. At one point, my husband said, “I think we had better turn around.”
Always the unrealistic optimist, I responded with, “Oh, it can’t be this bad the entire trail!”
The next muddy spot, however, just a few feet further up the trail looked to be the worst of all, and I quickly skirted it before my husband rounded the bend in the trail. And so it was for another quarter of a mile, and then, the trail dried up, and you couldn’t have asked for a nicer path for the rest of our hike.
It made me think about the trials that we go through in life. While in them, they seem that they will last forever. Sometimes it seems that there is no way around them, that we will be stuck in them forever. Sometimes we are tempted to turn back, to turn away from God. But wait: Didn’t God promise that He would never allow trials that He can’t carry us through? Didn’t He promise a bright outcome after the trials?
Okay, no, He didn’t say those exact things in those exact words, but consider what He does say:
“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1Cor 10:13, NKJV).
“And not only [that,] but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, 3 character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (Rom 5:3-5)
In other words, if we “continue down the trail” — read: remain in Him, there will be a better trail ahead, and God will promise to make the rest of our “hike” much more beautiful because of the “mud” we were required to go through.
We actually got pretty good at skirting that mud, and in the end, we didn’t get stuck, and we didn’t even return to camp with muddy boots. If we trust in God through our trials, we will also emerge from them not only unscathed, but blessed.
“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” (James 1:2-4 NKJV)
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart, Speech-Language Pathologist, mother of two, Author — “Aboard God’s Train — A Journey With God Through the Valley of Cancer”, Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, and Scriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, with Answers2Prayer Ministries. Follow Lyn on Twitter @lynchaffart.
(To access the entire “Lessons From Camping” mini-series, please click here.)