Article June 10, 2013 Issue

Footsteps of thought

Darci Niles

My husband and I love to go backpacking in the North Cascade Mountains of Washington State. One fall, we planned a trip with friends, trying to time our hike so that the Western Larch trees would be at their radiant best before they lost their needles for winter. 

But a week before we planned to set out, dozens of people in the office I worked in fell ill, and rumors of strep throat were a topic of conversation. My co-workers made predictions about the likely course of events, sprayed the office with disinfectants, and insisted on rigorous hand-washing. 

Instead of being intimidated by my colleagues and the germs they were concerned about, I knew I needed to pray to understand that getting sick was not inevitable. We can’t just ignore a problem and have it go away; we have to actively protect ourselves by understanding what God knows about us. When confronted with a challenge, we have to face it and work it out, proving its nothingness.

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