Step By Step

Cerro Negro

This is a picture of Cerro Negro one of the active volcanoes in Nicaragua. The group from Bent Creek Baptist left July 2nd which left Matheson, Lindsay, Nick, and myself as the remaining family of 4. As I'm writing this Lindsay and her brother Nicky are already back home (they headed out July 9th), but this experience was one worth recapping.

Before I left for Nicaragua I was spending time with my beloved mentor and friend Patty Dorn. She shared a verse with me that I've heard countless times growing up, but she explained it in such a way that brought with it a whole new meaning for me.

Psalm 119:105 "Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path."

The statement Patty made was "If there wasn't darkness you wouldn't need a lamp. A lamp or think of a flashlight is used to give you just enough light to make the next step you need to take." The more I'm here the more I realize how God has designed life to be lived step by step.

This was personified through our hike up Cerro Negro. Lindsay, Josue, and I were lagging behind as we were taking time to take a ton of pictures. We could look ahead and see the rest of our group as they were bookin' it up this volcano and as we continued on the trail we saw their footprints. Lindsay has a fear or heights, but she noticed that it was easier once she placed her feet in the footprints of those who'd gone before us to get up the volcano. I thought that was a pretty good idea and decided to do the same and when I began to do so I placed my foot in someone elses footprint and my food immediately slipped. So, I began to make my own new footprints as well.

We continued on our journey and after we had been hiking for quite some time Lindsay turned around and said "Lauren! Look how far we've come!" It was true...when we turned around it was so evident the heights that we were at and it was making the trek worth it. Once we got to the top of the volcano it was even more incredible to look around and see God's creation and to be reminded of how big he is and how little I am. Yet he is interested in all the little steps that it took me to get to the top of Cerro Negro.

What a beautiful picture of life! There are people who've walked before me and the footprints they leave have aided me in knowing the Lord more or even to be able to get through a "steep" time in my life much like the trail on the volcano. Then there are those people in my life who I've followed their steps which have caused me to stumble and I'm reminded how God has a special purpose, plan and path for my life and that instead of following their steps and trying to mirror their walk that I need to follow after God and he'll take me to heights that I've never seen before. I looked back over a verse that I read probably a week ago and I'm just now catching how God was preparing me to hear his voice through this experience. There are actually several verses.

Deut. 28:1-2 "If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all is commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.

Psalm 32: 8 "I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you. "





My "goal" for this summer has been to be able to walk away at the end of it knowing what God wants me to do with my life. I've been praying if whether or not his will is for me to do trip planning for Vision Nicaragua full time or if I'm just to continue serving the way I have been. The more I've been here the more I feel like I have no idea haha, but this experience helped me to realize that what God requires of me is to let him lead. He is totally in control and I have to remind myself that often...especially here. I do think that he speaks to us in big picture ways, much like looking at the enormity of a volcano and then realizing it takes the step by step journey to get to know him more and to fully experience his presence. In the meantime I'm finding peace in walking with just enough light for the moment and begining to learn that

"And now, Lauren what does the Lord require of you? He requires only that you fear the Lord your God, and live in a way that pleases him, and love him and serve him with all your heart and soul. " Deut. 10:12