Mountains and Faith

Last Friday, the trusted Camry and I ventured to South OC to the varied city of Laguna Beach. Laguna Beach is an artsy city. I am not artsy. I have a friend who used to live there. He is he into fashion and arts. He could make an entire one-color outfit look profound; I make outfits look not skinny. If that’s not bad enough, take a look at my artistic ability. I actually took some graphic design courses (that’s a whole other blog in itself). One of my professors assigned a Pop Art project. Pop Art is…I don’t even know what Pop Art is. Look at what I turned in. It’s some random weird pose with insanely shameful backgrounds. What was I thinking?

Back to the point…I arrived in Laguna Beach, eager to hike the famous “Top of the World Trail”. The trail is a difficult but short 1000 ft climb. My internal batteries were drained. I had my fill of bedtime disasters, meal meltdowns, car seat drama, and everything else you do as a parent for which you do not get paid or thanked…parenting is so much easier than a “real” job. Not!

I decided to forgo the punk-n-ska music and dive into a sermon podcast. With the week I was having, I figured my mind would appreciate some rest and wisdom. When I arrived to the midway point (the “O” rock pictured below), I gazed motionless at the surrounding mountains and terrain, letting my mind drift. I began thinking about the words from Jesus in Mathew 17:20.

“You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.”

Mathew 17:20-New Living Translation

I then did what any ADHD adult would do. I said in my mind, “Hey, Mountain. I have faith in God. Move!” The mountain did not move. Then, a thought came into my head: “Peter, it’s not a literal mountain…it’s the difficulties in your life. You perceive these difficulties as mountains. You feel as though you can move them on your own. You can’t. I can. I’m God, and you’re not. This why I ask you to have faith in Me in all situations.” Mic drop.

This gave me a new understanding of what it means to have faith. It’s placing my focus on God’s priorities and letting go of my desire for control. It is surrendering my will and my timeline to His. It’s praying for others when I am letting myself be consumed by doubts and fears. It’s trusting that God can move what I perceive to be obstacles in my path.

I’m not saying this is a literal translation of this verse. It’s just something I think God was using to teach me something I really needed. The verse doesn’t mean that if I have faith, God will take away all of my “mountains” (obstacles) or that I will never deal with anything difficult again. The verse is a reminder of how important faith in God is and how nothing is impossible for Him. This experience also demonstrates that God will use a Bible verse, a random person on the street, or a distant memory, anything to show us His love, power, and kindness.

Vaya Con Dios!