Loooooooooong walk

I just wanted to post a few pictures Raphael took on his mobile from our walk yesterday. He had a day off so we went for a nice walk in nature. Before going we had a very nice study in I Samuel 1. I was really touched to learn about how God answers our prayers. It was just a great way to start the day.... so off we went on this walk. The weather was great, and my walking was quite good as well. Raphael showed me how to use two hiking sticks to see if that would help and it helped so well that on our way up he didn't even have to make an effort to slow down his walking, so that was very encouraging for me... So, we walked, and walked, and talked about heaven, and I kept asking him things that require a lot of imagination like... "If God gave you a country... would you like it to be an island or somewhere in a continent? What kind of vegetation would you put in it? What kind of animals?" and so on.... I know he doesn't like these kinds of questions very much because... they are so irrelevant, but he still answers as best as he can to satisfy me, and then I talk and talk and talk about what I would do if it were my case... all this while I'm still walking pretty well. I know he would much rather have me ask him how the internet works, for example... anyway. We walked and walked, and then after about 2 hours he pointed to where he wanted to take me... on top of a mountain, and I thought he must be kidding because how on earth would I get up there? But I just followed him... then after more walking I started to feel really tired and wanted to give up but he told me he wanted to take me just a little bit further up... so after walking and climbing a bit... he lead me to the very top and WOW, the view was amazing. then he pointed down to were we had parked the car and how much we had walked and WOW.... I just had to cry a little to think that just by taking little steps at a time you can get very far... He shared with me how it made him so happy to be sharing this walk with me. See.... my husband is a hiker... he loves to hike and climb... and how funny is it that the Lord gave him a wife that walks with so much difficulty. And yet... isn't that just like God?

Then we found a place to sit and we went through out prayer requests and those the Lord had answered already, and other blessings that we hadn't even prayed for but the Lord had done... and we prayed and just spent such a nice time on top of that mountain....

Then we had to go down... there were several ways to go back to the car, I asked for the shortest way because I was already kind of really tired. So we saw a path and chose to go on that one... there had been a warning sign hiding in the bushes but Raphael looked at his map and according to the map the path would lead us to the car. This path was smaller, going down, and had a lot of stones on it which made it very difficult for me... and after 30 minutes we hit a fence that prevented us from continuing and had no other choice but to turn back... The sun was already starting to set, we knew that we still had about two hours to go... and we had just lost 45 minutes going down and up this trail... my legs were getting heavier and heavier... and not only that but I was VERY discouraged. I knew it wasn't Raphael's fault, he was following the map, but still... walking up was easier, but much more tiring, and I knew once we were up we still had to go down the other way. Raphael felt really bad and I could tell he was a bit concerned about time. He put up the warning sign again (which said that it was a dangerous path) I just had to keep praying for the Lord to give me patience and a happy heart... Raphael also stopped after a while to pray for me because he could tell that I was having a hard time... I just kept thinking that all that was happening was like a perfect situation to discourage us after such a great moment of prayer. I knew that it was just the kind of thing that would make us forget how Good the Lord really is and it could have even gotten me mad at Raphael when it wasn't really his fault, so I tried to keep that in mind and just continue praying...

Raphael then decided that he was going to take me down on his back and that I should just enjoy the view... so that's more or less how we made it down.... and it was fun, it was good exercise for him he said, and it kept our spirits up. He carried me down all the way to the foot of the mountain and then when it was flat I was able to walk back quite ok. We left for our walk at about 14:30 and got back to the car at about 20:30... that was a loooong walk. On our way home we stopped to get some excellent pizza, and once at home my he prepared a foot bath for me. :)

I'm still kind of tired today, but... I'm just happy of the day we had.

On our way up... unawares of what awaits me... see those rocks up there?

View from the rocks i just showed you?

I loved that we could see the snowy alps... those are my favourite mountains around here...

Raphael took pictures all around with his mobile...

Super cool!

Too bad he didn't take a picture from where we parked... and too bad I can't load those pictures from my mobile for some reason...

Our first trip down the wrong path... again unawares...

This is where Raphael took me down... at the bridge

Picture of where we were! I can hardly believe it!

Raphael... always happy, and me thinking "Take me home!"... but happy too :)