Psalm 121: 1-2 (New International Version)

I lift up my eyes to the hills—

Where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord,

The Maker of heaven and earth.

What happens when a person looks up to the hills and puts her faith in the Lord? The answer is illustrated in the life of Emma Gatewood, more famously known as Grandma Gatewood of Gallipolis, Ohio, who was the first woman to walk the Appalachian Trail in its entirety in 1955 at the age of 67. In the years following, she walked the trail two more times.

Emma Gatewood’s life up to her walk was filled with adversity. Born into a family of fifteen children, she suffered an alcoholic and abusive father. She was only able to attend school through the eighth grade. At the age of 19, she married Perry Gatewood, a well-educated man who nevertheless turned into a violent alcoholic husband. She raised 11 children, worked in the fields and suffered physical abuse. Finally in 1939 she left Perry and filed for divorce, at a time when divorce was unheard of. Her case was so compelling she received alimony and custody of the three children still at home.

Self-educated and a voracious reader, Emma Gatewood ran across an article on the Appalachian Trail in an old National Geographic Magazine. In 1955 she told her children she was “going for a walk.” 146 days later, she had traveled from Georgia to Maine and ended at the peak of Mount Baxter, where she signed the register and said, “I did it; I said I would do it and I’ve done it.”

Because she was a unique traveler, local newspapers along the way carried stories about her. But that was not the end. She became a noted speaker and increased the popularity of hiking and building trails. In spite of the problems she encountered on the first trek. Grandma Gatewood set out a second time and discovered that her experiences had inspired others to hike and improve the trail. She hiked the Oregon Trail at the age of 76, and in 1967, she hiked the Appalachian Trail a third time. By the end of her life, she had walked over 14,000 miles and inspired many along the way.

Emma Gatewood looked up to the hills and found her help in God’s natural world. She became a role model to both women and men for turning adversity into adventure. Hers is an unusual story but not unique. As with Emma, we can trust in God and in the beauty of the hills around us to summon deep resources inside our souls.

Let us pray:

Dear Lord, help us to remember that you are always around us, in the hills, in the valleys, and on the plains of our lives. We know that our help comes from you, the Maker of heaven and earth. Amen.

This devotion was written by Laura Derr and read by Amy Large.

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