During our first two years of marriage, we used my husband’s one and only week of annual vacation to travel through Washington, Oregon, Montana, and Wyoming to see the Rocky and Cascade mountains.

We squeezed a whole lot of driving into those two trips. We pitched our little tent at a different campsite each night, ate from a slim supply of food stored in our Coleman cooler, and had just enough money left to get across the Mackinac Bridge on our way home, but what a treasure of memories we made!

We have often talked about making a return trip someday, but life has been extraordinarily busy and the years have passed by too quickly.

Perhaps you can relate?

This past summer, we decided that it was time to make our desire a reality. We set plans in motion to rent a small cabin at the base of Heart Mountain in Cody, Wyoming, from which we could explore the area and revisit Yellowstone National Park.

The beauty of the mountains was more spectacular than we remembered.

Cody is located in a basin, completely surrounded by jagged peaks and rugged cliffs — the views are breathtaking in every direction, and, as the old song goes, “the skies are not cloudy all day”. One cannot help but be impressed by the splendid geography and the vast array of wilderness and wildlife on display. From the Shoshone River to grassy meadows dotted with buffalo to rushing waterfalls to watching Old Faithful erupt to an imposing elk emerging from the pine trees to stop traffic to the wonder of Mammoth Hot Springs, we loved every minute of our time there.

Most evenings, we simply sat on our little deck and watched the setting sun color the sky in hues of pink and yellow before dropping behind the mountaintops. Then, as the stillness deepened, innumerable stars scattered themselves across the endless night sky — it was so peaceful.

I was reminded of the Prayer of Moses in Psalm 90:2: “Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God.”

HE IS GOD!

“In His hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to Him. The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land” (Psalm 95:4-5).

THE MOUNTAIN PEAKS BELONG TO HIM!

It baffles me that anyone can look at the intricacies and magnificence of creation and still be convinced that all of it, the vast and infinite array of life in all its forms and manifestations, somehow started from a “primeval atom” that emerged from a big bang and has continued to evolve by natural selection.

“How many are Your works, Lord! In wisdom You made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures. There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number — living things both large and small” (Psalm 104:24-25).

IN WISDOM HE MADE THEM ALL!

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities — His eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).

HIS ETERNAL POWER AND DIVINE NATURE HAVE BEEN CLEARLY SEEN!

Job of Old Testament Bible times affirmed his faith in God with these words: “But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In His hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind” (Job 12:7-10).

THE HAND OF THE LORD HAS DONE THIS!

Michelle Smith serves alongside her husband, Gary, as part of the leadership team of New Life Christian Fellowship. She founded Purely Women Ministries with the purpose of helping women of all ages discover their true identity as women of God. She can be reached at michelle@newlifealpena.org.