God's Saving Waters.

God's Saving Waters.

A few months ago I had a terrifying experience. One of the scariest things that has ever happened to me actually. My roommate, Ella and I decided to summit Signal Peak, the highest peak in southern Utah, but we decided to start our hike at 10:00... At night.... We thought we were pretty well prepared for our journey we told multiple people where we were going and when to expect us back. I had a huge pack with three water bottles, a sleeping bag, food, tent, headlamps, water filter all the essential needs for a pack-in hike. My roommate felt pretty well prepared as well, but once we started hiking she realized she left all of her water back at our apartment. I felt like what I had would be plenty for the both of us so we decided to press on and try to summit this mountain. Slowly the trail got more and more thin and confusing, it was really hard to follow. We had to retrace our steps countless times to try to find where we were supposed to hike. Eventually we got lost, it was dark and we literally couldn't hike up any further because. If we went any higher we would be rock climbing up cliffs. So we set up our tent and decided to wait until morning when it was light to decide where to go and what to do.

The next morning we decided to just hike back to our car because water was short and we didn't want to not finish the hike before everyone started to worry about us. We trekked back down the mountain following what we thought was the trail/dried up river that we thought we had followed up. The stream trail seemed so much longer than it felt going up and slowly it got more and more thick with bushes, trees and rocks. We were dodging branches, spider webs, boulders, poisonous plants and who knows what else. It was hot and we felt like this dried up stream would never end I remember praying so many times asking Heavenly Father to let the road that lead to our car be just behind the next tree... but it never was there. Every time getting disappointed but trying hard not to loose faith. Eventually I felt prompted to stop following the river and to hike up the ridge on the right side of the stream. I really didn't want to do that. We were exhausted and running out of water but we pressed on. Once we started hiking uphill again we realized it wasn't just a leisurely stroll up a mountain it was THICK with spiky bushes and cacti, sometimes we couldn't even walk through them it was too thick. We had to kick down these bushes with our legs and feet just to take even a small step up the hill. Our clothes were completely shredded and we were both so dehydrated. We needed to ration our water because who knew how much longer it would be until we saw a road... let alone our car. As we kept crawling up this mountain I lost hope a couple of times. In all honesty I started to pray for a helicopter to fly by and life flight us back home. So many times I wanted to stop moving and just cry, I knew I couldn't stop though. I knew I couldn't cry. I had to stay strong for Ella. I knew if one of us started crying we both would start and we wouldn't be able to keep moving. More and more prayers were said while bush whacking through this hill. Over and over I felt like my limits were tested to their max but some how I had the strength to climb up just one more rock or kick over just one more spiky tree and to take just one more step.

Eventually, after what seemed like hours we arrived to the top of the hill and assessed the situation. There was a road on the other side of the hill that we climbed up which was a huge relief. We looked at the road and where it lead to we could see about two miles of the road. No signs of camp grounds, trails, or even cars but we decided to go to it anyway. There was about a mile and a half to get to the road through the same thick stuff we just hiked through. We made different landmarks that we just had to get to them then we could take a small break and get a small drink. There was a place that looked like it could potentially be a stream and me and Ella both tried not to get our hopes up but inside both of us were just wanting it to be there so badly. At one of our landmarks we decided to kneel and pray together. This was one of the most faithful prayers I have ever offered in my life, I have never before been so specific in the things I've asked for in my prayer but it just happened and afterwards I just felt confident that my Heavenly Father was aware of our needs. I asked Heavenly Father to give us water so that we wouldn't get dehydrated. I also asked for a car to drive by once we got to the road so we could have a way back to our car.

We eventually got to the spot that we thought was going to be a stream. Our excitement rose as we moved closer toward it, but it broke our hearts when we saw that it was completely dry. Not wanting to dwell on the fact that we were so thirsty and God didn't bless us with a stream too long we kept trekking to the road and tried our best not to loose faith and hope. We were almost officially out of water once we got there. Literally one drop left in both our water bottles we felt like it was the end... There wasn't a car there to the rescue right away and we both could barely put one foot in front of the other. We followed the road for about three minutes not sure how in the heck we made it this far but still so scared and worried about how much further we would have to hike. After both of our last drops of water were gone we heard something... It was running water. I don't know how we did it but WE RAN! And God Bless America the most beautiful stream was right in front of us.We both used my water filter (shout out to my dad for teaching me to be prepared) and drank and drank and drank until we couldn't drink any more.

When I saw the stream I wasn't sure if I should laugh or cry I was so happy. It was the most beautiful thing not just beautiful as in nature beautiful but it was so beautiful because I knew it was from my Father in Heaven. I knew he gave us that stream when we needed it most. It's amazing because I thought I knew when I needed the water most. I thought I had reached my limit so much sooner than I actually did. It was such a great lesson to learn because Heavenly Father knows when we've reached our limits and he knows how strong we really are. Sometimes we go through hard times felling that we've reached our limit feeling like we can't move on. We think we need our stream and saving water right then when really we can go so much further, we are so much stronger than we think. God knows us so much better than we know ourselves. He knows how strong we are. He knows precisely when we're at our last drop of water and we need His saving stream. I look back at all the times where I thought I needed the stream and in all reality I wouldn't have appreciated it as much as I did when I got it. That just shows how perfect Heavenly Fathers timing is He knows how to give us what we need, when we need it most and how teach us the lessons we need to learn to strengthen our testimony of Him.

When we were done drinking from the stream we got back on the road and not one minute later we saw a LIVE HUMAN man and his son and daughter panning for gold in the stream. We explained to the man what ha happened to us and told him where our car was and he said that it is about two miles away from where we were. He offered too drive us back to our car. God answers prayers.

Me and Ella were both in tears and felt so loved and blessed by Heavenly Father. Heavenly Father knows you and He knows what ever you are going through and His hand is in your life more than you think. He will bless you with your stream when you truly need it. We need to just trust in Him, learn what we need to learn, and never forget to pray. The blessings in the end are beyond what you can imagine.

I go to the giving stream often and it is a symbol of God's love and plan for me.
 This is a photograph I took of it a few days ago.
 The painting above is of  Signal Peak and the road we trekked on to get to the stream.