ALTITUDE SICKNESS

Is everything going well with you tonight? After years of struggling, are you finally on the road to success? Are your achievements being noticed? Are you finding it hard to sleep because you're so elated at what you have done?

If so, let me share a little fantasy:  Pretend you're climbing a very steep mountain. As you work your way to higher altitudes, the climb becomes increasingly more difficult, and you cling to God as never before. Then, you're at the top...you've arrived! Exhilarated, you breathe deeply, congratulate yourself and start back down. Suddenly you're in serious trouble. Professional instructors tell us that more climbers plunge to their death at this point than any other time in the journey. Somehow the success, joy and new sense of over-confidence all contribute to carelessness. Then, comes the fall.

Your spiritual walk is no different. That is why I am as concerned about you when you experience new - found success as when you're down in the dumps. "Falling off the mountain" can be avoided if you surrender yourself to learning daily to give all the credit and glory to God, keeping none of it for yourself.

As the psalmist says: "You have turned my mourning into dancing for me; You have put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness, To the end that my tongue and my heart and everything glorious within me may sing praise to You, and not be silent" (Psalm 30:11-12, AMP).

Keep your footing by giving Him the glory each step of the way...especially when you are rejoicing at the peak!

Heavenly Father, I thank You that every pitfall I face can be avoided. As I begin to achieve, deliver me from pride and self-exaltation. Don't ever let me think I have attained by myself. Remind me to give all the praise and all the glory to You. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

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