Sarah had always shown a love for hiking. As a child, she spent countless days camping out in the mountains with her family, and as she grew older, she continued to explore the natural beauty of her home state.
Sarah had always been an outdoorsy person, but she never really thought of herself as a hiker. That all changed one day when she decided to embark on a new trail in her state.
“I was looking at maps and planning my route. I didn’t have a particular destination in mind. I just wanted to go somewhere different.”
Sarah was already used to planning her routes before taking long journeys, so she wasn’t overwhelmed by the thought of traveling on her own for several days. “It was a small detour,” she said, “but I wanted to see something new, so I decided to take the path.”
When Sarah reached the trailhead, she found it was a much longer hike than she expected. She would have to travel farther than she normally would have liked to cover the same distance.
“I planned for it to take me about eight hours to complete, but it ended up taking me almost twelve,” she recalled. “That was a bit longer than I was expecting, but I still had enough time to finish.”
Sarah had planned for the hike to take eight hours because she knew it would be more challenging than the usual four or five hour round trips she made regularly. Her hike ended up being significantly more difficult than anticipated, and this caused her to become exhausted quickly.
“The sun started to set, and I was worried about finding shelter for the night.”
Sarah realized she was running out of daylight, and she needed to find shelter before it became dark. She didn’t want to sleep outside because she had heard stories about people who had become lost and died trying to stay warm in the winter.
“I could hear the sounds of traffic, so I knew there had to be civilization nearby,” she said. “But I also knew I wouldn’t be able to find my way back in the dark.”
Sarah was hoping that she could find her way back to the trailhead by following the sounds of cars. She figured she could then walk back towards the trailhead from there.
“The forest was so thick that I couldn’t see far enough to identify which direction the road was in,” she explained. “I decided that I should head towards the noise in the hopes that it would lead me out.”
But after another hour of wandering, the noise all but disappeared. Sarah began to realize that she was truly and hopelessly lost.
“I was getting frustrated. I was tired and cold, and I didn’t know which way to go,” she recalled. “I started to cry, and I knew that I needed to calm down and figure out what to do.”
Sarah decided she should spend her time trying to locate the sun, as that would be a sure sign of north. “I looked around for anything that could help me find the sun, but I didn’t see anything that helped,” she said. “Then I noticed a mountain peak off in the distance, and I could see that it was higher than anything around it. So I headed in that direction.”
Sarah figured that if she kept going straight uphill, she would eventually reach the peak. She could use that as a reference point, and then be able to find her way back home.
“I ran through the forest and climbed as fast as I could,” she said. “It was cold and windy, so I was grateful for the exercise.”
After several hours, she finally reached the summit, but it took much longer than she had expected. “I sat up there for quite a while to get my bearings,” she explained. “I didn’t know if it was morning or night, and I had no idea where I was.”
“I was scared. I was hungry, I was cold, and I couldn’t find my way back home,” Sarah said. “I didn’t think I would make it.”
Sarah began to cry again, and this time she was crying for more than just physical reasons. “I was scared that I would die in the wilderness,” she said. “I couldn’t imagine a worse way to end my life.”
As the tears rolled down her cheeks, Sarah’s mind began to wander to memories of her family camping trips, and she imagined how much they would have worried about her.
“They would’ve thought I had perished in the wilderness,” Sarah thought to herself, “and that they would never find my body.”
Sarah was overwhelmed by feelings of helplessness and grief as she sat at the top of the mountain and thought about her family, when suddenly a flash of light appeared in the sky.
“I heard a noise,” she said. “I saw a streak of light in the sky.”
The light grew closer, and Sarah realized it was a meteor. She knew it was a sign from God that someone else had survived, and that he wanted her to follow him back to safety.
Sarah felt a sense of relief, knowing that God had not forgotten about her. She knew she had to trust his plan for her life and follow his guidance back to safety.
As Sarah sat atop the mountain crying for God to guide her home, she began to remember the promise she made when she was a child. As she watched the meteor streak across the sky, she remembered her mother telling her that God had sent her a special sign.
“It will show you the direction to go,” her mother told her, “and it will guide you home.”
Sarah always loved the outdoors, but it was only after her mother made this promise did Sarah become determined to spend every moment possible exploring the mountains.
“I always wanted to go out into the woods and see what’s there,” she explained. “But I never thought I’d go far enough to get lost.”
Sarah was impressed with her mother’s faith in God. She now understands the true power of faith and knows that God has a plan for everyone who seeks him. She also now knows that even if she seems to fail, God always has a plan for her and will always guide her back home.