This summer our church will be journeying Into the Wild. Our summer series is focused on unpacking just a few of the stories from the Bible that happen in the wilderness – and for the length of the series, we will be sharing first hand stories of experiencing God in the wilderness. Our first author is Lillian Golden. Passion Community Church is her home church, but she is currently living in Massachusetts while attending Gordon College. Gordon is one of only 12 colleges in the U.S. with a required outdoor education component – and one of just four that integrates faith into that experience.
When Lillian was a first-year student, she chose to fulfill this requirement through La Vida, a program that offers an 8-week class in the first semester of college, or a 12–day backpacking expedition in the Adirondacks the summer before freshman year. Though hesitant at first, she chose to complete the 12-day backpacking expedition, and the trip proved transformative. She walked away from the experience with a confidence in herself and her leadership that she had never experienced, a view of a whole other side of God that she had never seen, and an excitement for the start of college that she never imagined. Since then, she has remained deeply involved in La Vida, working with the program throughout her college years.
When asked how spending time in the wilderness impacted her relationship with God, this is what she had to share:
Having Eyes to See His Glory
Last summer, during my first summer working in the Adirondacks with our backpacking program for incoming freshmen, I served as base camp staff. My official title was trip food manager – I was responsible for organizing, shopping for, and packing all the food that trips would take. But being base camp staff means more than just the role in your contract – it also means being a mechanic, janitor, chef, landscaper, belayer, and more. In short, you have to be ready for anything!
One group in particular faced an especially challenging trip. At one point, they became lost and made the call to leave their heavy packs behind, choosing safety over gear. Thankfully, the entire group made it back unharmed. But those packs? They never made it out of the woods.
Yes, the group’s safety was the most important thing – but those packs, and all the gear inside them, weren’t cheap. Once the group was safe and recovering well, six of us from base camp headed out to try and find the gear, guided only by a vague description of where it might be.
We spent nearly 10 hours that day bushpushing off-trail through the woods in the Adirondacks. We were essentially looking for a needle in a haystack. Around midday, we stopped for lunch. Sitting in silence, tired and discouraged, we questioned whether the search was worth it. Then my friend Evey broke the silence: “Isn’t it crazy that we’re seeing trees and flowers and rocks that no one else may ever see?” We all paused. She was right. We had been so focused on recovering the packs that we’d overlooked the beauty surrounding us – God’s glory in the hidden corners of the woods.
That moment stuck with me. We often become so fixated on what we think we need that we forget what God has already given us. Our eyes are drawn to worldly things, and we must train them instead to see God’s glory – even in places we might not expect.
Psalm 104:24–25 says:
“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.”
God creates with intention, even things few will ever see. His works are intricate, limitless, and full of purpose – far beyond our understanding. When we open our eyes to the small and the unseen, we gain a deeper glimpse of His glory.
Connecting with God on a Personal Level
One of the things I love most about La Vida is the inclusion of a solo experience. Whether students choose the 12-day backpacking trip or the 8-week class, you’ll end up spending time in the woods alone. For those on the backpacking trip, solo comes at the end as a time of reflection on the trip. From early Wednesday morning to Friday morning, each participant is placed at a small solo site away from the main camp with their tarp, sleeping bag, pad, water bottles, journal, and Bible. Many choose to fast during this time, shifting their focus from physical needs to spiritual reflection.
At first, the idea of solo terrified me. I had just begun to love the rhythm of life on the trail, carrying what I needed on my back, surrounded by a group of people I’d grown to love. The thought of stepping away from that and being completely alone was not something I wanted to do. But by the end of the trip, many participants, including myself, found ourselves ready for the stillness and space that solo offered.
Surprisingly, those two days became a time when I learned to talk to God as though He were sitting beside me—a friend and a Father. I stopped worrying about the “right” way to pray and simply asked for peace, which He gave. I realized prayer is deeply personal, and God listens no matter how we speak. I read nearly all of the book of Psalms, seeing how David expressed a wide range of emotions—joy, sorrow, frustration, gratitude. This comforted me, recognizing that we are allowed to experience different emotions because we are human, something I have always had a hard time recognizing.
Sitting under my tarp surrounded by mosquitoes and anthills, I realized how rare this kind of experience would be in life—no distractions, no technology, just time to be with God in His creation.
When Friday morning came, I was relieved to rejoin my group, but I still reflect on how transformative that solitude was. Two days felt long—but Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness, not only fasting and praying but also being tempted.
Matthew 4:1–11 gives us a glimpse:
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry…
Though Jesus was fully God, He also experienced very human challenges like temptation, hunger, and loneliness. His dependence on God and trust in His Word are reminders that in our own wildernesses we’re also able to rely on God’s strength, not the world’s comforts.
This doesn’t mean we must give everything up to prove our faith. It does, however, show that the world’s distractions are many, and God is our lasting refuge. He is eternal, even as everything else fades.
3. Being in God’s Creation with God’s Greatest Creation: Us
If I’ve learned anything through participating in and working for La Vida, it’s this: community is essential to a strong relationship with God. While personal time with Him is vital, He created us to be relational. God gave us other people so that we can share the joy of knowing Him, praise Him among His people, and celebrate the fact that we get to spend eternity together. What better way to praise Him than in His creation of nature with His greatest and most beautiful creation: His people.
I love the seven people I got to spend my 12-day trip with two summers ago, but it has been just as big of a joy and blessing for me to work last summer and this summer getting to see countless other groups experience that same life-changing joy and community with each other, finding it in an unexpected, random group of people after 12 days of trials and laughs. Some groups come back more bonded than others, but almost every participant leaves, changed and with a different view of community than they came in with.
One group from this past May stands out. It was made up of students who had just completed their freshman year and opted for the backpacking trip rather than the 8-week class. Despite Gordon being a small school, most didn’t know each other.
This spring was especially cold and rainy in the Adirondacks; highs often only reached 45°F! But when the group arrived at base camp in a downpour, they were full of joy and gratitude, excited for what was ahead. Within hours, I knew they were one of the most joyful groups I’d seen.
They were thankful for everything—from the basic meals I had packed for them to us belaying them on the ropes course. As they left for their eight-day canoeing trip in the rain, we prayed for warmth, glimpses of sun, and a lasting spirit of joy.
When they returned—wet, bug-bitten, and tired—their smiles hadn’t faded. Their bond had deepened so much they didn’t want to be apart for solo. The stories they shared were full of laughter, even the hard parts. They had discovered that community and trust in God are powerful defenses against life’s trials.
Ecclesiastes 4:9–12 reminds us:
“Two are better than one… If either of them falls, one can help the other up… Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”
That verse is a sweet reminder that though we will face trials in this world, whether those are in the woods, our homes, our families, or elsewhere – if we have a community based on our faith in our God, we will be able to overcome our trials because we will not be alone. Pain doesn’t disappear when we come together, but it can lessen when we surround ourselves with the right people and a focus on our God.
The outdoors means something different for everyone – for some, it’s a walk down the sidewalk, for others, it means hiking mountains. But regardless of how we experience the outdoors, God is present in all settings. He wants us to open our eyes to see Him in ways we often miss, to hear Him in the quiet stillness of the birds and the wind in the trees, and to lean on one another in times of trial, whether the trial looks like two straight weeks of rain, an illness, or challenging relationships. The wilderness looks different for everyone, but the way we choose to face the challenges it brings can draw us closer to God in ways we might never expect.
