My dear husband planned an incredible adventure, a trip I will never forget. Every day of this trip, I could not help but give continual praise to God quietly in my heart for the ability to afford to travel and to walk, see, hear, and feel. I am so grateful for my loving husband, whom God has inspired to see the world and who challenges me, a natural homebody, to do the same. While I am a storyteller who appreciates and contemplates the past, I’m blessed to be married to a forward thinker and planner. This is no coincidence, for I know that God brought us together. While I look at the past and my husband the future, we both worshipped God in the present during our recent travels.
Because human beings are made to worship, it would be easy to worship creation as many do. Instead, we know that creation declares the wonders of our great God! Giving Him the glory is what it really means to worship.
We traveled to the Olympic National Park in Washington State. It is a sight to behold with remarkable wonders of God, from the heights of the majestic Hurricane Ridge Mountains with their gigantic evergreens to Cresent Lake nestled among the rolling hills to the valley of the Hoh Rainforest with its towering mossy trees. At every sight and at every turn, there was an opportunity to worship our Creator.
As we drove to the sleepy town of Sequim, WA, the grandeur of the towering evergreens literally left me speechless. Witnessing enormous trees for miles is humbling, for it reminds you of the greatness of our God. Our first glorious sight was Cresent Lake on our way to the Hall of Mosses. The clear teal water quietly rippled among the hills as a silent mist covered the morning sky. It was beautiful, I was moved to tears.
The pic on the right is my husband blushing at my compliments ;-)
When we finally reached the Hoh Rainforest, we found the path of trees covered in green fur fascinating. Some trees reached so high that we had to strain our necks to see where their tops met the sky. There were natural archways and twisted trunks, ancient trees, and young buds. Along the way, the mosquitos tried their best to find a patch of skin to land on, but we made sure we were covered. God, why did you create these little buzzy bloodsuckers?
The following day, we got up early to embark on the slow ascend up the mighty mountains of Hurricane Ridge. The gray sky of the morning created a continual connection between the ground and the sky as we crawled to the top, surrounded by clouds. We were in the clouds! We stopped at an overlook to admire the sight. Among the thickness of the towering evergreens, the silence was incredibly astonishing. Every single sound and secret is hidden in these trees, and if I ever were to walk among them, I’d be lost to everyone but God. We spotted a fawn without her Mama in search of food. I prayed that they would reunite.
We thought the road upward would never end until finally, we reached the top of the mountain, which provided a view of Hurricane Ridge, an endless thread of snow-capped mountains in the distance. We got out of our car and walked a path that took us even higher. It was a bit terrifying for me at first because it felt as if one slipped, and I would go cascading down the mountain. But I refocused, and the air was fresh, and the mist was thick. When we reached a plateau, I was rendered speechless and stood in awe of the creation of our God. My husband traveled a bit further up while I rested on a bench.
I was alone until I looked in the distance and saw a fawn, which I named Bambi (after the character of the very first movie I ever saw in a theater). She looked straight at me, but then, I completely lost sight of her. After a few minutes, she suddenly popped her head from behind a plot of land that was in front of me. I was awe-struck as she approached me. Seriously, I was drawn to tears because I was alone with the fawn who stood just two feet in front of me and looked me straight in my eyes. I held back from trying to touch her for fear she might run or her mother would come looking for her and find me. So we just watched each other for a few seconds, and then she went on about her business. I think the conversation went something like this:
Everything I witnessed on this trip declared the greatness of God. It is impossible to fathom how someone could experience such marvelous wonders and still deny our Creator. Nature testifies. It is God's revelation to all of humankind that He exists and there is no one like Him.
My Lord The mighty evergreens Whisper Your Name In the silence And the magnificent mountains Declare Your Majesty To the heavens And I say, Amen
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Worship: You keep using that word Pt. 1