A few days ago, my husband Kenya and I watched a movie together about a young, newly married couple that went on an exciting trip to the Grand Canyon. They had found a highly knowledgeable tour guide who agreed to usher them through the expansive mountainous landscape and show them the most beautiful and exotic locations tucked away inside The Canyon.
Initially, the tour was going perfectly smooth, until, at the urging of their tour guide, the newlyweds reluctantly went deeper into The Canyon than was advisable. They should have followed their hearts and journeyed back toward the entrance, because once they crossed the threshold of the "safe zone" their guide was bitten by a poisonous snake and subsequently, died.
Kenya and I sat there riveted while watching the events unfold... stay with me, I'm going somewhere with this. I promise.
Here was this couple, lost in the mountains, with no tour guide, no signal on the cell phone to call for help and no food or water. To top it all off, they weren't even certain about whether the tour guide had, in fact, obtained the necessary permit for them to be inside The Grand Canyon--something that is essential to helping rescuers track tourists should something ever go wrong... and something dig go wrong, horribly wrong. Turns out, the husband severely injured his leg trying to climb up a mountain to see if they could get a cell phone signal at a higher elevation, which is when things really spiraled out of control.
Days went by, with him losing blood, suffering from serious dehydration and dying a slow death. So, one afternoon, when his wife saw that they were surrounded by ravenous wolves, she knew she might be able to escape, but her husband, who was unconscious and completely immobile, would be eaten alive.
She didn't want to see him go through that, so she performed what some call a "mercy killing" and suffocated him, so he wouldn't feel the pain of the wolves' impending attack.
Sadly, after she smothered her husband to death to "protect" him from pain, helicopters came not even a minute later to rescue them both. Had she waited just several seconds longer, she and her husband would have made it out alive. She wept bitterly.
Tragic.
Now, I know it was only a movie depicting real life events, but it surely made me think. How many times do we give into our human nature and panic prematurely?
Consider how we sometimes tend to react when we're lost and facing life's mountains, particularly when we feel as though we'll never come out of the wilderness. Instead of waiting for God to assist us in our time of need, in those seasons when we allow worry, anxiety and fear to rule us, we begin pulling the plug on things and killing them prematurely. As I often say, fear is a robber and it uses our own hands to rob us.You and I, if we're not careful, will shut the door on our own blessings, because we're afraid they'll never manifest. When we allow faithlessness to rule, the enemy doesn't even have to steal things from us. We'll snatch those things away from ourselves.
We kill off our visions and dreams. We stop pursuing goals and aspirations. We even declare relationships dead and convince ourselves that our issues are irreconcilable. Consequently, our pervasive thoughts become a reality and our most dominant beliefs turn into self-fulfilling prophecies.
Oh, but it doesn't have to be that way.
God wants us to trust Him, even when our circumstances seem dire and things look grim. He is always with us, fighting for us, protecting us and guiding us through seasons of doubt, despondence, distress and difficulty. If we fail to recognize this, however, we'll take matters into our own hands, potentially destroying the very things God wants to prosper in our lives.
Today, you might be going through a moment of uncertainty in some area. You don't know which way to turn. Perhaps, you're contemplating killing off some things, quitting, throwing your hands up and giving up.
But I believe somebody is reading this post just in the knick of time and it's God's way of telling you, "Wait! Don't give up my child. Help is on the way!" If I had a microphone in my hand and an audience, I'd tell you to tap your neighbor and look them in the eye and tell them, "Neighbor, help is on the way."
But since you probably don't have a "neighbor" right now, I need you to tell yourself, "Don't kill it! Help is on the way..." Keep dreaming those divinely inspired dreams, continue believing in God's promises concerning you and above all, don't forfeit your destiny before you see what God has in store for you on the other side of this mountain!
As always, thanks for reading and until next time... may you be empowered to prosper!
Dianna Hobbs
www.eewmagazine.com