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“You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.” Psalm 63:1

My sister had an experience on the Appalachian Trial a couple of years ago that is a testament to the loving provision of God. Let her describe it from her point of view:

I’m an AT enthusiast and have section-hiked the whole trail, mostly solo. But I had my son Adam with me when hiking up Mount Katahdin, the final summit of the AT in Maine. He had a medical condition that allowed him to hike as long as he stayed well-hydrated.

Mount Katahdin is one of the most challenging sections of the trail. Adam and I were both doing fine but getting low on water. We tried to ration ourselves to make it last until we found more, but Adam eventually ran out. This was a serious situation. I decided to take a sip of mine, then let him drink; I would sip, and he would drink…until we completely ran out. There was no water in sight. I knew there was no cell service where we were, and even if we could get a call out, rescuers would take two or three days to reach us.

We continued climbing down and looking for water until I looked behind me and saw Adam weaving back and forth, badly dehydrated. Frightened, I told him to lie down beside the trail, and I would continue until I found water, then bring it back to him.

I left him there alone and worked my way down the trail as fast as I could, praying, praying, practically shouting at God that we needed water or my son would die. I had gone some distance when I spotted a large rock to the left of the trail. On it was written in large blue letters: WATER. A blue arrow pointed off to the left. I thanked God as I detoured in the direction of the arrow. In a few yards, I found a stream – thank God! I drank as much as possible, then filled our water bottles.

I hurried back up to Adam. I ran up the trail faster than I have ever gone up mountain terrain.  God was lifting my legs for me over the rocks. Thankfully my son was still alive but in bad shape. When I gave him water, he began to revive. After a while, he was well enough to continue the trek out of there, so we walked in the direction I had just come from. We hiked until we came to that rock, and to my astonishment, there were no blue letters on it. It took me a while to process that miracle in my mind and realize that the only explanation was that God had put those letters there for us. I was overcome with gratitude and awe. We turned to the left, found the stream again, and refilled our water bottles.

A year later, I hiked the same trail with my husband. When we came to that rock, I pointed it out to him as the rock with the big blue letters the first time I saw it. I recognized it because I had taken a picture of it after the letters disappeared. My husband and I turned off the trail to get water, and there was no stream…there was no stream.

How can you properly thank a God who wrote on a rock and made a stream flow in a dry place to save your son’s life?

“Dear Father, we thank You that You are a God of love, that You tenderly care for Your children and provide what we need. In our human inadequacy, words fail us. We stand silently in awe.”

For His Glory

Cherie Harbridge Williams (with Gail Anderson)
TRBC Women’s Life