My Constant

I recently went on a snowy hike. A hike that started before the sun was up. Plodding through the snow that came up to the top of my winter boots. I forgot how much work walks are when you feel like every step you're doing high knees. Worth it regardless because of the sun coming up behind the mountains, the coffee at the top, and the people to share it with. My hip flexors are still just a little tight however, and I don't know that I would have gone all that way by myself. As I was wandering around in the clear moonlit morning I thought to myself how hard it is to get lost in the snow. 

The ground all colored white and smooth, except where deep footsteps were, telling of the string of hikers gone before. You've probably all heard the quote about there only being one set of footsteps in the sand because that's when we were carried. Now, I've had my own stories of Jesus holding me together and being carried seems the only reasonable explanation to my survival. However, I think life is more like a walk through the snow. There's no amount to the endless beauty to be found between the smallest details to the big picture-perfect views; it's work though. Sometimes it's plodding. Sometimes it's slipping and sliding. Sometimes there are hills that make you lose traction. If you keep moving you'll stay warm. It's pain, it's progress. It's bright in the dead of winter. 

I've been trying to come up with pictures of  God's constancy. It's what's been on my heart as of late. He is constant. With us. For us. Around us. Before us. Which reminded me of my words written back in March from Before Me: "He's already taking my fiery darts, defending my fight, cheering on my dreams, giving me rest, while I walk behind; if He's before me there's nowhere else to be but wrapped up in His presence." God is a constant God that goes before. If I follow His steps through the deep snow, there's virtually no way to get lost. He's willing to take one for the team and break trail, make firm my steps, chart the course, and knows the way. He is constant and willing to plod with me. He's strong and able to take my burden. If I look, He's there. There's no end to His grace, day by day. As David in the Psalms wrote, "where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I  flee from Your presence?" That has always been head knowledge. In a, got it, God is all-present kind of way. I don't know that I've thought much about how comforting that is. He is always here. When you go about your day, He's with you, when today feels more like a crapshoot than a known outcome, He's there too. When I'm struggling at my job that HE gave me, don't I know He's there too. In every minute of my everyday. He is constant. Always true. Never changing. Speaking life. Not letting us go. Not leaving us behind. Those footsteps in the snow. You are not lost. Keep taking that step. 

And I'll basically just leave this song here too. Because. Much love and all that stuff, hannaH

https://youtu.be/0X3qnO8neOk