******This is a devotional written by a good friend of mine, Robyn Knieriem, and it touched my heart. I asked her permission to share, and I hope you find the same encouragement in her words that I found.******

“He alone is my rock and salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.” Psalm 62:2

One morning last week I started walking up Judi’s trail at Glen Eyrie. In all the years we have come here I have never walked the whole trail. It was just me and my puppy Charley and as little as she is, I felt I needed to protect her from anything harmful….like the bear recently seen by a friend’s RV in the park at Glen Eyrie! 😲

A few years ago Charley and my husband Brian encountered a bear not too far from here also…let me just say Charley thinks she’s bigger and more mighty than she is. She barked and growled and the bear just strolled away.

So as I began our walk on Judi’s trail I wasn’t exactly sure what I was going to encounter. The path was rocky. There were steep and difficult places to walk. And honestly, I wondered what might be found around the next corner.

Maybe a snake.

Maybe a bear that Charley couldn’t defeat.

Maybe even a bobcat.

I didn’t know what was waiting for me.

And as I walked, I began thinking about how much that path reminded me of life.

Life can be a rocky road (and not the ice cream type. 😜)

We don’t always know what’s around the next corner. Sometimes the road is smooth and we can walk along without much thought. But other times the road gets difficult.

We stumble. We get tired. We become afraid. We wonder if we can keep going.

Sometimes we just think “Maybe I should just turn around.”

Have you ever been there? You’ve been walking through something difficult for so long that you wonder if it’s worth continuing.

Maybe you’re tired.

Maybe you’ve been hurt.

Maybe you’re facing something you never expected.

Maybe you don’t know what is waiting for you around the next corner.

And sometimes when the path gets rocky, we do something very natural. We look down. We watch every rock. We watch every step. We worry about falling. We worry about what might be ahead.

And there’s nothing wrong with watching where we’re walking. But if we spend our entire journey looking down at the rocks, we can miss the beauty that’s all around us. That’s what happened to me that morning. I realized that I could spend the whole walk looking at the rocky path…. Or I could look up!

When I looked up, I saw the beauty. I saw the mountains, I saw the scenery. I saw things I would have completely missed if I’d kept my eyes fixed on the ground.

And isn’t that exactly what happens in life? When we keep our eyes on our problems, our fears, our disappointments, and everything that could go wrong sometimes we miss the God is doing right in front of us…I know I have.

The Bible tells us: “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” Colossians 3:2. God doesn’t promise us that the path will always be easy. But He does promise us that He will be with us on this path of life.

Isaiah 41:10 says: “So do not fear, for I am with you, do not be dismayed for I am your God.” That doesn’t mean there won’t be rocks we stumble on. It doesn’t mean there won’t be steep places. It doesn’t mean there won’t be things that frighten us.

It means that we don’t have to walk them alone.

As I continued walking Judi’s path there were moments when I was tired. Could’ve been the altitude but most probably it’s just I’m in bad shape. 😜

I wanted to turn around, I thought about just going back down the path because it would have been easier.

But I kept going.

And eventually I reached the top. Yay! I made it! I’m so glad I did because there at the top was a bench overlooking the beautiful Garden of the Gods.

If I had turned around I would have missed it. If I turned around I wouldn’t have found rest on the bench and a peaceful feeling looking at all God had done.

Think about that for a moment.

What if the place where you’re tempted to give up is actually closer to the place where God wants to show you something beautiful? We don’t always know how close we are to the mountain top. Sometimes we quit when we’re just a few steps away from the view.

As I sat there I noticed more. There was a huge rock. It was bigger than some of the mountains. It was majestic. It was strong and powerful like God.

God is our rock!

Psalm 18:2 says “The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer.”

The rocks on the path were obstacles. But the rock at the top was something I could depend on. And that’s such a beautiful picture of our lives. There will be rocks in our path, some huge and some small, but God is our true rock.

Majestic, beautiful, strong, powerful.

The rocks in our path may make us stumble. They may slow us down. They may make the journey difficult. But our rock gives us something solid to stand on. Jesus said in Matthew 7:24-25 that the wise person is like someone who builds their house on the rock. When the rain comes, the streams rise, and the winds blow, the house remains standing because it has been built on the rock.

So the storms will come. The rocky roads will come. But when our lives are built on Christ, we have something that doesn’t move when everything around us does.

Maybe today you’re walking a rocky road. Maybe you’re tired. Maybe you’re wondering what’s around the next corner.

Maybe….you’re tempted to turn around because all you can see is the rocks beneath your feet.

Can I encourage you to keep walking? Take the next step. Then take another. And when you need to stop…..LOOK UP!!

Look for the beauty God has placed along the way. Look for his goodness. Look for his faithfulness. Look for the people He has placed beside you…

Most importantly look to Him because the goal isn’t simply to just survive the rocky roads well. The goal is to keep walking, faithfully, until we reach the place God has prepared tor us one day when our earthly journey will be finished. There will be no more rocky roads, no more fear about what’s around the corner. No more stumbling, no more pain.

We will finally reach the ultimate destination and stand in the presence of The Rock. Our Rock. Forever! So when the road gets rocky, don’t give up!!

When you’re tired, don’t turn around. When you’re afraid of what’s ahead, remember who walks beside you.

And when you find yourself staring at the rocks beneath your feet…. Look up!! Because you might just discover that you’ve been missing the view.

And remember….The path may be rocky, but our Rock is steady.

Let’s keep walking. Let’s keep looking up until we make it all the way home.

“He is the rock, His works are perfect, and His ways are always just.”Deuteronomy 32:4