HE met me there... Yellowstone Day 2

As I continue my journey to healing and was sitting down to do my morning bible study, HE invited me to come outside. He said, “that is why you came isn’t it?”. I had planned to head to the valley to check on the bear but HE changed my plan by inviting me to the Lower Rim by saying, “turn here”. So, I did. I stopped at the first pullout to admire the view. Normally that would be the extent of it but as I gazed at the map, I see that you can hike all the way to the top of the lower falls. As I start the 250 ft descent, I can hear the rage of the water get louder and louder. Just before the final bend HE says, “look what I can do?”. I gazed upon the raging waters with tears in my eyes opening the book Dani had sent with me and the first entry was about abuse.

 

 

After spending some time there, I began the climb back out. I could hear God saying “stop”. So, I stopped and sat on a rock took my headphones out and just sat. I probably only made it three minutes and God said, “that’s ok, you can try for longer next time.” As I continue to walk, HE reminded me not to forget to write all of this down so I did.

     As I approached the path to The North Rim HE said, “not today, I have more to show you.” So, I headed back to the car.

     While heading out I parked along the side of the road because God said “stop if you want one more look.” I walked until I could get a good look at the falls to get one more picture but it was not a very good view.

I kept wanting to stop but HE said “keep going”, so I did. It seemed a little monotonous and I wanted to turn around without a good picture but God said, “patience my dear, good things come to those who wait”. This trail was relatively easy and I began to see fewer and fewer people. I then came to a larger parking lot. I found myself at Lookout Point, The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Now, mind you, God is blowing up in my head. It seems that on days I don’t seem to hear HIM and now HE won’t stop. I proceeded to the scenic overlook and took a beautiful shot of the falls.

From here, if you look closely you can see the platform on the top right-hand side of the falls where I was this morning. I decided to peer over the edge of the lookout and what do I see? Another amazing view. It will be another steep decent but at the end another platform but closer to the falls. I did not even ask the question and HE said… “that is why you came right?” So down I went. The decent was incredibly steep, full of many cut backs with a small creek running next to it. I can hear the Chiefs voice in my head saying “you have a great life, leave your past on the trail”. As I approached the bottom the view of the falls was spectacular as God says, “see I am far from quiet and I am far from still”. It is your job to “be still”.

     I spent a good thirty minutes at the bottom just enjoying the view and having some great conversation with others that made the climb. Hard to believe that I have already done two climbs and I have yet to do the one I set out to do today.

     Once I made it back to the rim of the canyon, I proceeded down the path to The Grand View, there God invited me to worship with Him. I grabbed my headphones and pulled up a rock. It was here the HE reminded me that HE invited me here, not Hawaii. HE said, “you loved Yellowstone long before you fell in love with Hawaii. They are both beautiful but you needed to come back to your roots, to where it all began. You had to come here to let it all go. Even meeting up with the Chief. Did you get my message from him? Leave it all on the trail.”

     As I continued to worship with my eyes full of tears, HE said, “you take care of far too many, it is ok to take care of yourself. It has been far too long.” As I continued to worship with HIM the breeze began to blow. I could feel HIM brush my cheek, as that breeze increased, I could hear HIM say, “just breathe”. I rested there with HIM for a moment and enjoyed what HE had given to me. I felt HIS spirit enter my soul.

I made a quick stop at the lodge to load the map for Mystic Falls onto my phone, fill my water bottle and then I was on my way. I was greeted by a heard of buffalo and snapped a photo before continuing on to Biscuit Basin.

I thought for sure I had missed my trail but I went on anyway. I had loaded my All Trails Map but this was my first time using it and I am not exactly sure how it works. I could not find the Mystic falls Trail Head but I went on anyway. As I passed the hot pots Jesus reminded me, HE was still here, HE said “you can go check that box now”. I literally laughed out loud. We actually had a bit of a discussion over that one.

     As I entered the back country, I made sure my bear spray was ready and I began to sing Way Maker… like that will keep the bears away! I seemed to be the only person on the trail at times. I found myself feeling fearful at times and I could hear Jesus saying, “trust me”. In my mind I was like, so we are going to talk about trust, now are we? As I approached the falls, I was completely taken back by its beauty. I sat there “still”.

I headed back to the car after another amazing hike spending a little more time enjoying the beauty along the way. Once I made it back to my car, I headed back to Canyon Village. I weaved my way through the heard of buffalo and decided to swing by the Grizzly in the valley. There were so many people at the kill sight I decided to hang out in the valley for a bit. I was excited to see two more grizzlies and a few more buffalo. I got word of a lone wolf at the kill sight so I decided to head back there. I had just missed it, turns out if I had stayed where I was the wolf would have practically run into me. Patience….