If Your Mountain Won't Move, Climb It!: One Climber’S Test of Faith and Endurance in the Face of Life’S Most Difficult Challenge

By Annette Whitmire

Jesus said in Mark 11:23, If anyone says to this mountain, Go, throw yourself into the sea, and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. My five year old grandson asked, How does God move mountains? Arent they really heavy? They sure are and He sure can! But what if your mountain will not move, or even budge?

I hope for the next few chapters I can walk along side of you as you climb your mountain, by sharing with you bits and pieces of my own personal experiences, difficulties, and accomplishments. A friend of mine once said, We tend to look at mountains as a bad thing that Jesus has to cast into the sea, but sometimes those mountains are not troubles in our lives but triumphs! Sometimes God does not move the mountain but calls us to climb it and conquer it. So gather your supplies, and get on your hiking shoes, and lets go mountain climbing!

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Oct 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490845548

Annette Whitmire

Annette Whitmire was born and raised in New York City. She graduated from Valley Forge Christian College and Burge School of Nursing. She lives with her husband, Chuck, in Rolla, Missouri, where he has been senior pastor for the past twenty-four years. God has blessed them with four children, three grandchildren, and two wonderful daughter-in-laws. Their youngest child, Aimee, is a beautiful girl they adopted from China nineteen years ago. God has brought her through many trials over the years including an eleven year battle with cancer. She enjoys writing poetry and scrapbooking. She has been a nurse, a volunteer in the school system, a mentor, and a speaker in churches, and the local jail. She continues to seek God’s will for her life.

Book preview

If Your

Mountain

Won’t Move,

Climb It!

Annette Whitmire

26855.png

Copyright © 2014 Annette Whitmire.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™ All rights reserved.

WestBow Press

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-4553-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-4554-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014913080

WestBow Press rev. date: 10/1/2014

Contents

Dedication

Introduction

Background Check

Who Am I and Why Am I Here?

Please Tell Me What Must I Do To Be Healed?

Climb, Climb Up Sunshine Mountain You And I!

The Big C

How Do You Eat An Elephant?

Things Aren’t Always The Way They Appear

Those Clouds Are Not Really There!

God Is Bigger Than The Boogie Man

So Glad I Didn’t Know That

Fly Delta And Keep Climbing

I Love Shadows

Sometimes You Can Figure Things Out. Sometimes You Can’t.

Faith! What Is Your Count?

Trust God No Matter What

Falling Up

I Want To Live With Abandon!

When It Rains It Pours

Pray For Me And I’ll Pray For You

Be Strong

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

P.S Heaven Is For Real

Endnotes

Dedication

It is so amazing how God puts the right people into our lives at just the right time. I have been alive now for fifty-seven years, and twenty-nine of them have been in full time ministry. I cannot begin to count how many Aarons and Hurs God has given me to help hold up my arms when I just could not do it any longer. Most of all, it has been those faithful family and friends who have surrounded me with encouragement these past eleven years since my diagnosis of cancer, that have been such a lifeline for me. There are too many to name, and I think about the verse in John 21:25 that says, Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written. I feel the same way. I would fill another book or two just naming the people who have stood by me during the most trying times of my life. It is during the worst times of your life that you will get to see the true colors of the people who say they care for you. You know who you are. Thank you for faithfully praying for me and continuing to believe God for a miracle in my life. Many, many, thanks to all of my proofreaders who have painfully read my book. Then they had to reread it again because I kept changing things. I never realized the importance of commas, or that you don’t have to start every sentence with but, so, or and. I do now.

Thank you to all my family. I thank God for my husband, my children, my daughter-in-laws, and my beautiful grandchildren. What a blessing they have been in my life. Despite all my mistakes they turned out pretty well. I think family was one of God’s best ideas.

There is one person I especially want to thank. I have known her my entire life. Although I cannot remember the first time we met, she was there for me right from the minute I was born. Through the years she became my rock. Although she did not own a cell phone, most anytime I called her, she would be there for me, day or night. I could always count on her to tell me the truth. At times she did not have the best way of saying what she needed to say, but she said it from her heart. If I had a disagreement with my husband she would say, Now Annette, I think you are wrong. Ouch! But I loved the times she would say, Now Annette, I think you are right, but just ask God to help you. You have to let some things go. She was right. She was my biggest fan when I preached, and my mightiest prayer warrior. When it was time for God to take her home at age ninety-three, a piece of me went with her, and I miss her so much. With a heart full of gratitude for giving me life, I dedicate this book to my mom. She would have been so proud of me. Thank you mom for bringing me up to love and serve Jesus, regardless of how strict you were. You are the best, and I am sure you are having a wonderful time in heaven.

Most of all thank you to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who has been so faithful to me. It is only by the grace of God that He has allowed me to accomplish this. I honestly do not know what the future holds, but I sure do know who holds my future.

~ Annette Whitmire ~

We Will Meet Again

God gave to me a mother

Who was made by His design.

And placed into our family

Just for a little time.

For though her years seemed many

They quickly passed away.

And oh what I would give

To have just one more day.

Just to say a last goodbye

Would only take a minute.

My life will never be the same

Without my mother in it.

So we must live each day,

As if it was our last.

For all our days are numbered.

And life goes by so fast.

Live each day with no regrets

And most importantly,

Make sure you are prepared

To face eternity.

Take time to make things right.

And do not hesitate.

Don’t wait until tomorrow,

For tomorrow may be too late.

So Mom we’ll see you soon.

Although we don’t know when.

For when He calls our name,

We’ll see you once again.

Annette Whitmire

Introduction

I’ve learned that everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you’re climbing it.¹

~ Author unknown ~

H ave you ever had an extremely difficult day? I think we are all nodding our heads yes. There are days that are bad, and then there are days that are really bad. We all have had our share of troublesome times, but usually a good night’s sleep can correct a lot of situations and readjust our frayed emotions from the day before. Ever have a day like that?

What has been the worst day of your life? The worst day of my life was not the day I discovered I had cancer. For me the worst day of my life was the morning after. The morning you wake up and hope yesterday was just a bad dream, but then you realize it wasn’t. I did not say it as poetically as Job did, but I felt the same way. Job 10:18 says, Why then did you bring me out of the womb? I wish I had died before any eye saw me.

Life is not always easy. In fact, for some of us it is just plain hard. And to add to that, it sometimes feels downright unfair. Ever felt like that? One morning during one of my hospital stays, my oncologist, Dr. Ravi Vig, cheerfully walked into my hospital room and stood at the foot of my bed. I was a bit down because of a minor setback I was experiencing. I am usually a pretty positive person, but that day I was Nancy Negative. He just smiled and said, It’s just another bump in the road. You’ll get past that. It may have felt like a bump to him, but it felt like a mountain to me.

Just as mountains have their level of difficulty in trying to climb them, life also provides us with situations that make us feel vulnerable, and weak; they leave us with the impression that there is no hope in overcoming anything, not even a bump. You may feel your mountain is like climbing K2. K2 is the second highest mountain on the earth, also known as Godwin Austin, and it is considered the world’s toughest mountain to climb. It is also called, The Savage Mountain. It is steeper and more difficult to climb than Everest. The weather is much colder and less predictable than on Everest. For every four people who have reached the summit, one has died trying.² I have no desire whatsoever to even try to climb that mountain. It sounds way too risky.

What about the difficult mountains in your own life? Have you ever wanted to quit before you even started? Maybe you heard a bad report from you doctor and your prognosis was so bad that you thought, What’s the use of even trying? I have felt like that at times. I have looked up at my mountain and have wanted to quit before I even started to try climbing it, but then I realized that I would rather die attempting to scale it, than die because I gave up and did nothing.

The title for this book was inspired by my first trip to Estes Park, Colorado. If you have never been there, it would be well worth your money and your time. My husband decided a week before we left that he needed a vacation. Unfortunately, I need at least six months to plan a major trip and my husband only needs six minutes and a few outfits. It basically takes him thirty minutes to pack. It takes me thirty days! Just ask him. A week is definitely pushing it. Men and women are so different in so many ways, and packing for a trip is one major difference. Men just pull out things from their closet and randomly stuff them into their suitcase. Then they enthusiastically announce, to your annoyance, that they are ready to go, when you have not even started. Women, on the other hand, have to try on every outfit, making sure everything matches, and most importantly fits! Then they neatly lay everything in their suitcases, usually between plastic bags, so their clothes do not get wrinkled. Note the plural of suitcase. Did I mention packing snacks, getting drinks for the cooler, putting clean sheets on all the beds, making sure all the laundry is done, the house cleaned and picked up, and if you have small children, packing their suitcases too? No wonder men are ready first!

Our first choice for vacation was going to be Prince Edward Island, a small but beautiful piece of land on Canada’s eastern coast. Our inspiration came from my teenage daughter’s love for Anne of Green Gables, a family favorite with the women in our house. We were so excited to visit every spot Meghan Follows, the actress who played Anne, was filmed. But after some debate over the cost of airfare, renting a vehicle, and only having a week to plan it, we opted for our second choice, Colorado. My daughter, a self-made photographer, thought the mountains would be a good place to practice her skills in photography. So we packed (me in record time) and got into our faithful Suburban, which took us through the boring state of Kansas (sorry Dorothy) to the beautiful state of Colorado. And the mountains exceeded our expectations. They were breathtaking, literally speaking in more ways than one, due to the high altitude. Actually, my eighteen-year- old daughter passed out at a local restaurant within the