Friday the 16th of April I embarked on a survival trip with two other gals that I hadn't met till the day before. There were two groups of two men and one man alone. It was great that afternoon, all three of us gals were having fun creating our little living area. We were typical women and redesigned it twice : ) We got a little nap and reading time in before the sun had set. One of the "rules" for this adventure was no food...ok well actually we were allowed to bring one piece of hard candy : ) We were starting our fire when the one man that was staying alone came by to check up on everyone. Us gals had matches but we wanted to start it with the magnesium and flint strip...well Taylor ended up starting it because him and I were both trying at the same time and He got it first! Us gals all know how to build a fire so we were not to worried about us not starting our own fire. For a bit we were alone then two of the guys came over to see if they could have some of our rationed duck tape. We said no since we were supposed to be surviving : D Welllll when they decided to leave us girls,we decided to get into our beautiful bed we had made from pine needles and 2 emergency blankets. We had another emergency blanket behind our heads in a wall form between two trees and a pretty massive fire at our feet. Not even a minute after laying down we heard a noise...I was up with my rifle and the other two girls up with the flash light and whistle. We decided it was probably nothing but we also realized there would be no sleeping that night!
Through out the night we took "naps"...one person would lay down and sleep as long as possible and then the next person got to go and then the next...ALL NIGHT LONG!
That was just the worst standing and falling asleep, we kept look out for any animals wanting 3 college girls for food that night, and tried to catch each other from falling into the fire.
So your asking yourself "WHY ON EARTH DID SHE DO THIS!"
GREAT question, really!!! I was asking myself that question the whole NIGHT!
Well what did I learn!
1. I appreciate men SO much more. All three of us decided that if we had even had one man there we would have had a much more peaceful night. God has designed it this way, we are supposed to complement each other and we didn't have that man speaking rational thoughts into our minds. Instead we all had minds racing a million miles a minute of the worse case scenario.
2. How much I hate the dark was amplified by a million that night. Even with my MAC (my Marlin 30-30, yes it has a name) and KNOWING that God was in control of all I was so afraid of not being able to see. There are so many areas I can apply this too in my life. Like the dark being my future and even while talking about this trip at lunch today, the further you step away from the fire the colder and darker it gets. The closer you are to it the warmer you are and you can see all you really need to see!
3. God has been speaking and almost yelling the word STOP into my life as of recently. It seems like every time I go to some type of Church or Bible Study the word STOP comes up. I have a strong feeling God is saying that to me. My mind as a woman goes a million miles a minute. And being out in the wilderness made me think of so many things that have been bogging my mind down even more. And then not doing anything but thinking the whole night and morning it was a PERFECT opportunity to apply the word STOP in my life. I didn't really get it down that night but the next day made it that much easier. It was a Harsh and Uncomfortable battle...I'm glad now that I went through it.
4. The last thing I learned is our trust for day light to come. All three of us gals KNEW for a fact that there would be sunlight at 5:30 that morning. We just had to make it to those blessed digits! But technically there was no sunlight to really look forward too. Only if God had willed it would it rise. How often do we not trust God with the simple and big things in life. We trust Him when we absolutely need Him, like us gals feeling helpless and scared but when it comes to other areas in our life do we even consider giving Him full reign in our life? I know I don't as you can tell from #3 and not being able to just STOP and Listen to God and what He wants to say and do in my life.
I know this is a lot to read and to think about but I want you to be so close to God, I am not there yet but I will keep striving to be there, the journey is hard, sometimes scary, and has it's ups and downs. But you know what???
It is sweet.
beautiful.
consuming.
worth it.
my obsession.
I want you to experience these, challenge yourself ask God what needs to change then STOP and LISTEN.
This is one of the single most hard things to do in life.
Endure and it will be a very worth it Journey/Adventure.
This is not a picture of where we were at but it definitely portrays light and dark.
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