What’s Your Everest? Blind Descent DevotionalSample

Day 6: Trust in God

A lot of times, our biggest barriers to success are ourselves. We get in our own way and take a half-in approach to committing our lives to Christ. Hebrews 4:16 describes how we need to approach God’s throne with confidence to receive His mercy and grace in our needs. It’s when we get out of our own way, check our ego, and surrender with confidence that we begin to live.

Descending any mountain should be the best part since—with gravity on your side—you’re now able to get a clear view of what you climbed the night prior.  The reason you climb through the night is because that’s when the mountains features are the coldest, which is the safest for highly-glaciated mountains. Once the sun rises, things become very unstable with snow and ice melting. However, I was completely snowblind and alone descending from the summit. I was in a fight for my life, focusing on making a proper foot hold or else falling for over 2 vertical miles to my death.

What should have taken 3 hours to get to high camp ended up taking me over 7 hours. The climbers below thought the worst had happened. I took a few major falls, where the rope I was attached to shock loaded, which saved my life. I eventually ran out of oxygen at the halfway point. At that moment I had been climbing for the past 33 hours in some of the most treacherous conditions. I tried my best to power through it on my own, but finally reached a point where I couldn’t. I needed help.

I dropped to my knees and surrendered. My prayer was simple. “Dear God, please help me. I can’t do this alone.”

At that very moment I witnessed a miracle. It felt like someone reached down and picked me up to my feet. I had this unexplained energy. The first thing I did was try an oxygen bottle that had previously failed and got a positive flow. I quickly got my gear together and started rappelling down the mountain, still completely blind. My friend, Pasang Sherpa, eventually met me as I was walking into camp. At that moment, I knew I was going to live.

Leaning means placing your full weight on something. Proverbs 3:5-6 says to trust the Lord with all your heart and lean fully on Him, not your own understanding. It’s so difficult to not try to take on this world with your own understanding, but God is there with an outreached hand just waiting for you to grasp it. Trust in Him with all your heart. Not a portion of it, but all of it. Completely surrender your life to Him to gain unimaginable life.

Discussion Questions:

Describe a time in your life when you tried so hard to do it on your own, but you reached a point where you couldn’t do it anymore.

Have you ever witnessed a miracle (large or small)? Describe.