After the Storm

It had been nine hours since we left the refuge near the peak of Mt.Toubkal. We had come through snow, rain, and land slides. We had spent about two hours dressed up as mountain women in a souvenir shop before making the decision to hire a guide to take us an alternate route around the flood. This was no normal hiking trail, however. It involved forging rivers, climbing without ropes at high elevations, and traipsing through mud and over loose rock on the sides of bald mountains. The top picture shows what we came through, and the bottom picture shows a village that marked the beginning of a new hope that came alive in us when we saw it. We were thankful to be alive. It was so obvious that God had protected us, for there had been many times when one of the twelve of us could have fallen down the mountain, been swept away by the river, or fallen off of a cliff. One of the men in our group was in his 60's and was suffering from muscular deterioration---yet, he made it! God truly did answer our prayers. Though the nine hours of survival were traumatic and difficult, I am glad that I went through them, for, this was one time when I COULD NOT depend on myself. I had to depend on God, and that was so good for me. We left the mountain praising God in our hearts and remarking to one another how at awe we were of God's obvious protection over us.