Testimony

I wrote this years ago, but I just found it. It needs some editing and its old, so I think some things have changed a lot, but it's still my life.

On a mission trip in the Appalachian Mountains, I taught a Bible School class to middle and high school girls. To present my testimony I related it to a hiking trip I once took with my family. This is my story.

My Testimony: A Hike of Faith

It all started with my family going together on a short hike in the mountains of Alabama. After eating lunch at an amazing waterfall, we decided to head back to our camp. To keep the trip short and easy, my mom and I only had to follow the path two miles to a parking lot where my dad and brother would pick us up. It worked out that they would walk 5 miles and we would only have to walk 2. With less distance to travel, my mom and I gave the guys our water and we set off in different directions. Half a mile later, my mom and I found a parking lot but it wasn’t far enough, according to the map so we kept going. Another half a mile and another parking lot, so we kept going. But a mile later, there was not a parking lot, in fact, the trail got steeper. We kept walking in hopes of finding the parking lot. Later, the trail turned into a footpath that looked a lot like a deer path. Since my mom and I had given the guys our water, we were nearly dehydrated in the summer heat. I will never forget the thoughts that ran through my head at that point. I just knew that my mom and I were going to die on the top of this mountain. It took falling on my face, after tripping over a fallen tree, to make me realize what I should have been doing. I closed my eyes and screamed, asking God to help us. We were lost in the middle of the forest with no water and I had no idea how God could help us, but I believed He would. The sky grew darker and we could tell a thunder storm was on the way, but we kept hiking. The thunder was frightening, but the rain was an answer to my prayers, it brought relief from the awful heat. With little phone service, all we could tell rangers was that we knew where we were going. We heard the sounds of helicopters, but there was no way of flagging them down and we knew they couldn’t continue their search through the storm. The path eventually led to waterfalls, but it took so much strength to get there with help from two volunteer search and rescue team members who hiked the trail from the other end in order to find us. In what seemed to be a really miraculous way, the exhausting and frightening hike with my mom turned out to be an amazing blessing. Twelve miles of rocky mountain climbing, no water, and a storm was actually great fellowship with my mom, a lesson in resourcefulness, and a walk straight up the side of God’s beautiful creation with the gift of rain to cool us off from the summer heat. I began to see this trip as a symbol for the way my life had been. I began my journey on the right path, but my own stubbornness and self pride kept me from making the right decisions. I kept going, even though I knew I had gone too far. The rocks, dehydration, and abrasions along the way were like the struggles in my life. From parents splitting up in elementary school, to depression and self mutilation in middle school, to a series of bad relationships with non-Christian boys, the hardships I endured throughout my life just made coming back to God that much more amazing and eye opening. I realized that I had fallen on my face before Christ and He was the only one who could save me. My life was that uphill battle, but when the helicopter flew over head, I knew someone still cared and he was still looking for me. My father never lost faith in finding us. Now I know that when I begin to feel as if I have lost my way, I can always find comfort in the knowledge that God knows where I am and how to bring me home to Him. “Unless the Lord had given me help, I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death. When I said, ‘My foot is slipping,’ your love, O Lord, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul.” (Psalm 94:17-19 NIV) I feel it is my duty and my privilege as a child of God to share this joy with as many other people as I possibly can.