Moving Your Mountain

[Mountain]: /noun/ anything that a person may be struggling with and trying to overcome in their life. Sisters, we all have a mountain, whether it be anxiety, depression, or a sin that we have been dealing with for a while and just simply can't seem to shake. In this blog I'm going to give you some advice on how to get rid of that mountain in your own life.

About a month ago I decided to get a tattoo of a mountain scene with the verse Mark 11:23 written below it. Since last school year, this verse has been one that I often thought of as I battled with the disorder and chaos raging in my mind from my anxiety and depression. This was a dark time for me, as I sunk so deeply into depression that I didn't really want anything to do with God. During this time my dear discipler and friend told me to look up a few verses that she had written down for me, and wow they struck me right to the core. So I decided to look for more while I had my bible out and open. This was when I stumbled upon a passage about faith in Mark 11 that changed my view completely. 

"And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."

Mark 11:22-24 (ESV)

I remember writing on the white board hanging on the wall opposite my bed, "God is bigger than your anxiety. Do not let it have power over you". And I left it there, even if while in that dark place, I didn't feel like accepting it as the truth.

I believe that this passage can be applied to any of us that are facing a mountain in our lives, for all of us that are standing at the base, staring up at the giant mass in front of us, too scared to even move let alone command it to move. And yet Jesus calls us to command our mountains to throw themselves into the sea, because though we may feel powerless, we are mighty. If we simply have the faith that Jesus speaks of in Mark 11, we will discover that that mountain we have been so scared of doesn't hold any weight to it, and that with the strength that only the Father could bestow in us, we can and will overcome it. 

I finally erased that saying from my white board this school year, because now that I am in a good place with God, I'm in a good place with my mountain, and I am using all of the strength that my Father has granted me to get rid of it. Paul speaks of this strength in Philippians:

"I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."

Philippians 4:13 (ESV)

Now I know this verse is a bit overused, and that so many girls have this as their Instagram or Twitter bio, but despite that it is completely true. In this passage, Paul himself writes to the church of the Philippians, telling them of all of the highs and lows he has faced while being a crusader for Christ. In that passage he says, "I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound.", but that no matter what situation he is presented with he is content, because he knows that God is looking out for him. Paul is a great example of someone who knows the struggles of the life of a Christian, and I often turn to his letters when I am struggling myself. 

So dear sisters, what is the mountain that you are facing, and how are you currently trying to overcome it? If that method of overcoming is ending with that mountain still standing, I'd just like to remind you that if you're trying to move it without God's help and with you just relying on your own strength, that mountain isn't going anywhere. We cannot do anything without God, and though we may try, it's just going to leave us more tired and down than we were before. So before you try moving that mountain, make sure that your heart is in the right place with God, and that you are letting your faith in your Heavenly Father move that mountain for you.

One last anecdote to leave you with: this is not going to be an easy task. Moving mountains isn't a quick and painless task; it will hurt and it will take time. Sometimes the mountain only budges a couple of inches at a time, but trust me when I say that in the end you will be thankful that you had God's hands helping you to move the mountain rather than trying to move it yourself. Sisters, let God have His hands in your life, working in you and through you. The Christian walk isn't about us pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps. It's about allowing God to pick us up when we fall along the journey, and being reassured that the trek along that straight and narrow path is definitely worth it. Don't give up hope, and may the peace of God forever be with you.

Love, Em