We all face trials, right? Some of us climb together, facing similar problems, and draw comfort from the company. Others climb alone. But even alone, you know that as you climb your mountain, your friends are climbing their own. The process is similar for each climb.

Different Mountains, Similar Climb

“When you’re actually climbing the mountain, you have to get to it first. Upon arriving at the base of the mountain, you have to know what you’re doing before you start out. Always be safe with each step you take.”
-MountainClimbingBlog.com

“It is critical to have a sure footing before going to another level, else we slip and slide back several levels. A bad fall can end with serious wounds that take a long time to heal and seriously delay the journey. There is a need to stay at each plateau long enough to learn what God is teaching us. Moving too quickly can be dangerous.”
-Robin @ HeartofWisdom.com

A Step at a Time

You’ve already come to terms with your mountain. You know its name and approximate size. You know God is with you on the climb. But you still have to actually climb it.

Deployment is the name of mine. It’s going to be a long climb. But I know that God has been preparing me for this time in my life, and he hasn’t brought me here without giving me what I need to make it through – or to the top, as it were. What you and I must do is face the mountain and climb, one step at a time.

For me, one step at a time means facing each day with prayer for strength. It means pushing forward in my goals rather than wasting my time. It means making a little more progress, moment by moment. Sometimes, just doing my chores is a mountain for me, and I have to take one step by picking up a shirt, another step by folding it, another by putting it away, another by starting again with the next item. Bite-sized pieces.

I’m not the first to say any of this, but I need to write it. I need to share it. Do with it what you will.

Dread.

All of my teenage and adult life has been focused on that one word. Dread.

How did I learn that word? How did I come to the conclusion that it was an accurate description of my feelings?

What comes to mind is an episode of a TV show I used to watch (I can’t remember what show this was – Maybe Full House?) where a kid hears her parents talk about being nervous – how they would certainly be nervous before doing something that she was about to do, and all of the sudden the kid develops stage fright. Really convinced that she is now feeling those things that her parents were feeling, she tries to back out of a performance, and the parents don’t realize what is happening until she repeats their words: “I’m nervous.” They only realized then that they had not only taught her a new vocabulary word, but they had also taught her to fear something she had no real need to fear.

I wonder if that’s what happened to me. Did I hear people talk about dreading work and then decide that I did, too?

When it Happens

I’ve felt dread about all kinds of situations in my life, but usually they fall into one of two categories:

1. Responsibilities – Things I have to do cause me to feel dread. Sometimes, when I think about it, I can laugh at myself a little because I know that if it weren’t something I had to do, I might actually enjoy it. But, sadly, knowing that doesn’t always help. I still feel the dread that I’ve learned to associate with responsibilities.

2. The Unexpected – I also feel dread when facing new and unexpected situations. This is probably related to my reluctance to face change. I like what I know, what is tried and true, and I dread entering situations where I might have to face something I haven’t faced before.

These are my mountains. Deployment, for instance, falls partially under both categories. Doing dishes falls under responsibilities. Going alone to a party falls under unexpected. Everything, it seems, is related to one or the other, or both.

Your mountains may have different shapes or may be made of a different substance, but these are mine.

Before Climbing

I have to do this. I know I have to do this. I need to, and I’m expected to do this. If I don’t do this, bad things will happen. I don’t want to do this, but I have to…

Thus cycle my thoughts.

Before I can climb any mountains in my life, I have to work past the dread. This comes before breaking a task down into manageable, bite-sized pieces and before taking any first baby steps. Because, no matter how small I tell myself the steps are, dreading them can still keep me from taking the first step. So, how do we do it?

One way to work past dread is by blocking it out. This is the method I’ve used most frequently, though I’m not necessarily proud of it. I try to think on anything other than the task at hand, and by so doing, trick myself into doing what I know I must. I can do it with loud music, with talking to friends, and with generally keeping busy.

The second method is preferable and probably more healthy than the first. Prayer. I so often underestimate the power of prayer. I have to continually remind myself that praying is not what it sometimes feels like. It is not just talking to myself or to the ceiling or sky. It’s not just something that makes me feel better, either.

• Prayer is speaking with my God, who is actually the only one who has the ability to help me. He is all-powerful!
• Prayer is drawing succor from the Holy Spirit, who was given to me by God to be my Comfortor when I was saved.
• Prayer is admitting my insufficiencies and relying my Heavenly Father.
• Prayer is accepting that my Lord is in control, even when it doesn’t feel like it.
• Prayer is taking the focus off of myself and remembering to praise the Maker.

I want to encourage you to do what I also try to do: Face your mountains prayerfully. Manage your dread by facing it with prayer rather than blocking or avoiding it. Use prayer to prepare yourself for your first step!

What things do you dread? What do your mountains look like? What causes mole-hills to become mountains for you? How do you prepare to climb them?

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Previous Fridays

1. You never complain when I put my cold feet on you to warm myself up. lol

2. Your heartbeat is so loud when my head is on your chest!

3. You think soda is a vital part of your diet…

4. Your anniversary gift was SO lovely and special

5. You have the cutest mole

I’ve been having a video-uploading spree! Here are my latest from YouTube.

Fifty Part One

Fifty Part Two

Fifty Hrs Bust!

Fifty Hrs Fail 1/2

Fifty Hrs Fail 2/2

Marty’s Bday Slideshow

Previous Fridays

I love my husband!

1. Remember that one, really long MSN chat?

2. I love how you’ve let me in, past your defenses, even though it makes deployment harder.

3. I love having long emails from you to read when you’re not online.

4. I love your play-scowl, even from halfway across the world.

5. You’re so supportive, being so strong for me, and it means the world to me!

I feel like I need to take a deep breath and pray a bit before I write this…

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”
-Colossians 3:12-13 (NIV)

Can I just start by saying that I feel like I’ve had an abundance of experience with stupid people lately? And I don’t handle it well. I’m usually impatient, unkind, condescending, and sometimes downright rude. It’s hard not to be!

I mean, when it takes a doctor’s secretary a month to get your appointment set, and when you have to give her your phone number again each of the dozen times you call her, and wait as she seems to spend five seconds writing down each digit… It’s hard not to get just a little impatient.

Dearly Loved

I lay in bed at night and thank God for his perfect, unconditional love, acknowledging that even my husband and I cannot love each other in the same way He loves both of us. The next morning, I get up, and I raise my voice at the customer service agent at Tricare. (Don’t get me started on Tricare!)

Human nature says, “I’m number one!” Self is the most important. And other peoples’ worth is judged by many factors: intelligence, humor, whether they’ve done you harm.

But human nature is sinful, and God doesn’t appreciate the judgments we pass on his creation.

Instead, He says that we should be motivated by his love and his sacrifice to pour that love on others.

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
-1 John 4:10-11 (NIV)

• Compassion, a deep sympathy for another’s suffering.
• Kindness, being warm-hearted and considerate.
• Humility, accepting ourselves as we really are before God.
• Gentleness, being amiable and tender.
• Patience, waiting or enduring good-naturedly and without complaint
• Forgiveness, to excuse or pardon, to renounce anger and resentment.

These are all just aspects of one love, a love that we are to give to others. It’s not something that is dependant on whether they love us first. It’s something that is dependant on the fact that God already loved us first. Now we love others.

What if they don’t deserve it?

Sorry to tell you, but they don’t deserve it. But God says their worth isn’t judged by the factors we like to use. They’re worth something because they are God’s creation, too, and he loves them.

Tricare will probably thank me for taking this lesson to heart.

Life by the Spirit

“I sure can’t just make myself more loving!”

We aren’t really capable of unconditional love, but God is. And as Christians, we have his Holy Spirit within us. The only way we can really accomplish God’s will is by allowing the Spirit to work in and through us. It’s a process of being aware, being in constant prayer, and being open to the Spirit’s leading. We won’t get it right all the time, but the more we work at it, trusting Him to work in us, the more we’ll start seeing the fruits of the Spirit. And, hey, those look pretty similar to the loving qualities we’re supposed to show others…

“…Live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. …The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”
-Galatians 5:16-17, 22-26 (NIV)

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This is a recipe for beef chuck steak in a yummy sauce of my own creation. Now, let me just warn you that I haven’t tried this recipe on anyone else yet, so I don’t even have Hubby to vouch for me. But, just trust me. It’s good.

Ingredients

• beef chuck steak (one large or two individual-sized)
• 1 tbsp butter
• dill weed
• garlic powder
• ground red pepper
• marjoram
• ¼ onion, diced
• ½ orange bell pepper, diced
• salt
• thyme

*The Sauce:

• ¼ tsp cornstarch
• 1 tbsp steak sauce
• 2 tbsp red wine
• 1 tbsp sour cream
• 2 tbsp warm water

Directions

1. Prepare the sauce in a small bowl by mixing the warm water and cornstarch and then adding the rest of the ingredients. Stir well!

2. Melt the butter in a skillet on medium heat. Add and sauté the onion and bell pepper. (The onion should just begin to turn translucent.)

3. Clear a space in the middle of the vegetables and add the steak. Raise the burner to high and cook the steak very briefly on each side, so it is just barely brown, then reduce to low heat.

4. Season the top of the steak lightly with garlic powder, ground red pepper, marjoram, thyme, and dill weed.

5. Stir the sauce again, then cover the steak with it.

6. Cook 30 seconds, turn steak over, season with salt.

7. Increase heat until the sauce begins to simmer and cook, turning the steak often and stirring the sauce so that it constantly covers the steak. Continue to simmer until the sauce is thick and the meat is cooked to taste. You can serve this as I did, with green beans and toast, or however else you like. Serves 2!