Habakkuk 3:17-19a – Though the fig tree do not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like hinds’ feet, he makes me tread upon my high places.

Sometimes everything seems to go wrong all at once. The car needs new tires. The water heater went out. A notice came that job layoffs were coming. A choice must be made between medicine for health or food on the table for family. Any one of these can certainly be seen by most of us as “high places,” mountains that seem impossible to scale. And yet climb them we must if we are to keep ourselves and our family afloat. It seems almost miraculous when we finally claw our way up so that a tiny sliver of daylight shines through at last. Can we take a lesson from the prophet here and remember that through every trial, God is with us? When we praise Him in all circumstances, He recognizes our trust and obedience and provides us not just with sure footing and easy handholds but with the strength and power of a deer, an animal that can easily clear a six-foot barrier, can bob and weave to beat Mohammed Ali, and can run at speeds up to 45 mph! Every unbeatable obstacle we encounter becomes just a minor blip when our faith lies in the ability of God to make us make things happen. Happen they will, too, and when they do, remember to look back not with pride at your own feats but with deep gratitude for a God who loves you enough to give you the strength to leap over mountains.