Hiking the Clouds: The Journey to Mature Faithਨਮੂਨਾ

Hiking the Clouds

The higher up a mountain you climb, the greater the chances you’ll find yourself surrounded by clouds. The same tends to be true in our journey of faith.

When I was twelve, I climbed a 12,000-foot volcano in Guatemala. I was not prepared for the trip. The journey was filled with storms, mudslides, injuries, and exhaustion. By the time we reached the top, we couldn’t see any view—only clouds. It didn’t feel like victory; it felt like failure.

The life of faith is much the same. The further you go on the journey, the more likely you are to encounter fog and clouds—questions, doubts, and uncertainty. But here’s the good news:

The clouds don’t mean you’re lost. They mean you’re climbing.

Faith is a lifelong ascent. It rarely moves in a straight line. Most often, it feels like three steps forward, two steps back. You may wonder if you’re growing at all, but Scripture assures us that transformation is happening, “from one degree of glory to another.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)

So how do you know if you’re growing into mature faith?

The clear sign that you are growing is love. Jesus said, “By this everyone will know you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35). Love is the “divine nature” Peter describes in today’s passage (2 Peter 1:4). And love is endless—because God Himself is endless.

The journey of faith is not about arriving at a perfect view of God or life. It’s about being transformed, little by little, into the image of Christ, who is Love itself.

Along the way, God gives us waypoints—markers of growth that reveal where we’ve been and point to where He’s leading us. Peter lays them out: faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness (or endurance), godliness, brotherly affection, and finally, Agape.

We should seek these traits throughout our spiritual walk, but I also believe God dedicates specific seasons to developing them within us. Each stage builds on the one before it, shaping us into people who reflect Christ more fully.

We can’t skip stages or rush the process. Sometimes it feels slow, even frustrating. But every waypoint is essential. Each one frees us a little more from fear, control, and ego, and draws us deeper into the freedom Jesus has already won for us.

This devotional is a look at each of the stages Peter mentions. I want to show you that in the later stages of spiritual maturity faith usually looks quite different than in the early stages.

If you’ve felt like (or had the courage to say):

“Faith isn’t as simple as it used to be.”
“God feels distant or silent.”
“I’ve still got some doubts and questions.”

Then welcome to the clouds. You’re not failing. You’re climbing.

Don’t be discouraged by the fog. Don’t panic when faith feels uncertain. What feels like a crisis may actually be a sign of growth.

Kierkegaard once wrote, “Life must be lived forward, but it can only be understood looking backwards.” The same is true of faith. You may not see progress now, but one day, looking back, you’ll notice just how far God has brought you.

The truth is, the clouds of faith can be the very place where God opens up greater depth, freedom, and love than you ever thought possible. What you’ve learned so far will help you navigate what’s ahead. The journey may look different from here on, but that’s okay.

God’s promise remains: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).

It’s not over. Your best days of faith aren’t behind you—they’re still ahead, if you’ll get comfortable hiking the clouds.