Overview
This week you’ll hear first hand from Kyla and Katie who describe, expound, and debrief everything God accomplished on the 2021 VLA Conquering Excursions. Keep updated as we explore the challenges, summits, adventures, and life altering experiences our current seekers and past seekers accomplished on this year’s adventure in New Mexico.
Today’s the Big Day
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KATIE AND KYLA DEBRIEF
Also see our seekers’ response to their year in the program here! Click Below:
Kyla Debrief:
The morning of the first day of the hike I felt very nervous and I kept thinking to myself can I do this, can I really make it to the top. And the first day of hiking was so hard and it got even harder when I started to get competitive with my sister Jaci but one thing I remembered that Jashley told me was I don’t have anything to prove to anyone and after that the hike up was still hard but remembering those words helped me to not be so hard on myself
The second day was an acclimation day and Grant told us to just do what we feel we should do whether that be resting or exploring the area around us. I went on a walk and it was a good feeling of not having to go anywhere or do work or school and we actually got to rest and just be in that moment.
When I woke up on the 3rd day I felt very nervous and a bit of fear but I just prayed in that moment and asked God for peace and help to make it up the mountain. When we got to the last stretch of the hike up I was hiking in the front of the group and I was so tired but I knew that I could make it to the top and I kept telling myself that I will make it up this mountain no matter what. When we got to the top of the mountain it finally hit me what we had just accomplished. It was and I think will be for the rest of my life one of the best things I will ever do and accomplish in my life.
I am so thankful for the growth and wisdom I gained on this trip. And through the discomfort and pain God helped us through it and helped us and gave us strength to make it to the top and throughout this whole trip.
- Kyla 2021 Seeker
Katie Debrief:
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Matthew 6: 25-34
As we sat around the fire the night before we would summit Wheeler Peak, I could sense the nervousness and anticipation that was gripping my own heart and the heart of the girls. The hike to Lost Lake that we had completed the day before had not been easy and the girls had struggled and tomorrow would be even more strenuous. As conversation dwindled and we all started to gather our things and get ready for bed, I questioned in my mind if we would all complete the hike. As I sat in my tent that night, I remembered what the Lord had been teaching me in the months prior.
When Jashley and Grant first asked me to help lead the trip to New Mexico, my first thought was no way. I felt this way not because I didn’t want to go, but because I doubted my ability to lead and was afraid of the difficult hike. The root of this fear and anxiety didn’t end with me - the root of these feelings was a distrust in the provision of the Lord and His sovereignty and goodness. This wasn’t the first time that I had struggled with the temptation to see the Father as not trustworthy and it definitely won’t be the last. As I was going to bed that night I realized that the reason for my anxiety surrounding the next day was again the same temptation to not believe the Lord’s promises.
Matthew 6 teaches us that our worry and fear and anxiety over the future and things that are out of our control is a result of little faith in the Creator of the Universe. Our God is the one who breathed life into the mountains, painted the sky in its magnificent colors, clothed every creature of this Earth and knitted us together in our mother’s wombs. He is sovereign over His creation and He is working all things together for the good of His kingdom and for the good of His children. We need not be anxious about tomorrow, not because tomorrow will be easy or comfortable, but because we are resting in the hand of the Lord and He will provide our every need.
As we all summited Wheeler Peak together the next day, I was reminded of this truth. Praise the Lord that we all made it and reached the top, but even if the outcome would have looked differently and we never made it to the summit, we could still have had peace knowing that our God is trustworthy and that His plans are always working for our ultimate good. I am so thankful for the growth that the trip produced in my own heart and I pray in the hearts of the girls. As Grant likes to say, the best stories are almost always the product of uncomfortable situations instead of comfortable situations. Take heart brothers and sisters, because the Lord is at work in our discomfort and in our suffering and He will provide for your every need.
- Katie Heckman VLA Seeker Mentor
Conquering Visually
13 K + in elevation, 30 + miles of hiking in 2 weeks, and over a decade of seekers continually developing their holistic lifestyle in Christ (including a night summit). Truly, this is why Veritas Life Adventures exists:
