Mountains Moved!

When I was a little girl, I had an opportunity to go to summer vacation Bible school at the big church in our little town in East Texas.  Being the youngest of 4 siblings, it seemed no one else was interested in going, but I was!  So, getting to go do something all by myself at the ripe old age of 6 or 7 was a pretty “neat-o” thing to do.  I really wanted to go and was so excited when my parents gave me the okay.

You have to realize when I was a little girl, children did not have all the activities they have now.  The only thing I had going on was Brownies.  Brownies is a little girl (Jr.) level of Girl Scouts which was available through the 3rd grade at that time.  Yes, I just dated myself!

Our teacher at vacation Bible school was the sweetest young lady I had ever met.  She was barely out of high school, and had beautiful long blond hair.  Her name was Sandy, and she beamed with the love of Jesus to us every day.

On the last day of vacation Bible school, I remember we had a big art project we were trying to finish and, it being the last day, we had to get it done!   Sandy looked like she was on pins and needles.  She was short on time, and at the last moment she realized she had not read us our Bible lesson.  She read it to us very quickly as we worked.  Even though it was a rush job on her part, it left quite an impact on me.  It was a story of a missionary that God moved a literal mountain for.  I’m sure the scripture that was used was this:

             “So Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Have faith in God.  For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, he will have whatever he says. 

            Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.’ “  Mark 11:22-24

 

        The following day, a Saturday, my family and I went to my grandparents’ house way out in the country in Oklahoma.  It was a good 2-hour drive to get there, but well worth it.

Me Maw and Pe Paw’s was a great place to visit.  At one time they had over 1700 acres with woods, rock quarries, rolling hills, farm land, and ponds.  My grandfather had a big barn in a field out to the right of the house with cattle, horses, a pond, and all the stuff that goes with it.  It was so wonderful and we all loved it.

The house was fenced in with posts and wire, on about a half an acre lot.  The back fence behind the house was different than all the other fences.  It was a wooden fence with a couple of buckets nailed to it for the horses.  You could bang on the buckets with something and the horses would come up to the fence to see you.  Obviously, they were looking for something to eat.  I remember once after banging on one of the buckets climbing up on the back of the old black mare Flicka.  I climbed from off the fence and then just sat there on her bare back while she grazed.  Someone eventually saw me there and my mother came and got me down.  Needless to say, I did not do that again.

That first evening after dinner, I went out back to the wooden fence.  It was a lot of effort, but I managed to crawl up on the metal GATE to get a good look at the view behind the house.  I loved it there.  There was about 20 acres of field behind the house, behind that were woods, rolling hills and then in the far distance were 2 mountains.  I thought it was the most wonderful place on earth.

As I looked at the 2 mountains and remembered the Bible lesson I wondered, “would God move a mountain for me?”  In the sweet innocence of a child I asked God.  Even though I knew He loved me, (because He did send His Son, Jesus, to die for my sins), but would He move a mountain for me?  I mean, I felt so insignificant in the big world.  There I was, this little petite girl peering over the top of THE GATE looking at His amazing creation.  Would He do that for me?  Was He really watching over me?  Was I really special to Him?  I mean, was that sort of thing possible?  That was how the conversation went, short, sweet, and very puzzling to imagine such a thing.

A couple of days later when we got home, I dressed up, did my hair and had my mother take a picture of me in our back yard, holding my dog, Toot, a little black Chihuahua.  For some reason I felt it was very important for me to remember the experience I had had with God.  Even though I wasn’t really sure what had taken place, if anything.  It must have been the Lord prompting me.  That is the picture I have for you at the top of this page.

        Twelve years later, just after I turned 21, I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.   I decided I needed to go tell my grandmother about my experience.  I took the long 2-hour drive through the winding country roads and over the creepy bridges.

Even though I’d been there many times over the years growing up and the house and barn were older, it still had that wonderful heartfelt charm from my childhood.

My experience was nothing she’d not heard of before.  She told me Her father was the pastor of an Independent Baptist church, and they believed in the baptism, but lacked the gift of tongues, which I had received and she was thrilled for me.  We had a wonderful visit and prayed together.

That evening, as I had so many times before in the past, after dinner I went out back of the house and crawled up on her old metal GATE.  As I looked out at God’s amazing creation, I felt something was different.  There was something very familiar about it.  Maybe it was just me?  But then suddenly as I looked out at the field, the woods, and the rolling hills, it dawned on me, ONE OF THE MOUNTAINS WAS COMPLETELY GONE AND THE OTHER ONE WAS HALF GONE!

I remembered!  I remembered the whole thing!  The conversation I had had with God as a little girl and now the mountains were gone!  I was stunned.  God had moved not just one, but the second mountain was going too!  All that!  Was for an insignificant little girl who just wanted to know if He really knew she existed.  God’s presence flooded me.  What an exciting and overwhelming moment in my life!

And it all happened at THE GATE!

“At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Who then is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?’  Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by n o means enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.  Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.’ ”  Matthew 18:1-4

“So Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done.  And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.’ ”  Matthew 21:21