When Sight Fails but Faith Stands

When sight fails… what do you hold onto?

What do you do when the world turns white and the wind roars over a knife-edge ridge?

In this episode of Between the Prayer and the Promise, we sit down with Brian Dickinson—former U.S. Navy Aviation Rescue Swimmer, solo Mount Everest summiter, and author of Blind Descent—to trace the moment his goggles failed, his vision vanished, and the only way home was one step at a time.

At nearly 29,000 feet, with oxygen dwindling and no rescue in sight, Brian leaned on years of elite training to fight panic. But he quickly discovered that survival required more than preparation—it demanded surrender.

In this powerful conversation, we explore how discipline and spiritual dependence can coexist without canceling each other out. Brian shares how he navigated by sound and touch along fixed lines, braced against 50-mph winds on a two-foot-wide ridge, and reversed the Hillary Step without sight. He also recounts the quiet presence he felt in the storm—and the simple prayer, “God, I cannot do this alone,” that coincided with renewed strength and even a failed oxygen bottle coming back to life.

We unpack Psalm 46:10—“Be still and know that I am God”—not as a decorative verse, but as a survival strategy. Stillness as mental clarity. Stillness as sacred trust. Stillness when outcomes are uncertain.

Beyond the summit, Brian speaks candidly about survivor’s guilt, identity, and purpose. What does it mean to come home when hundreds never do? How do you refuse to let your identity freeze around a single achievement? Instead of chasing the next summit, Brian centers his life on faith, family, and service—meeting others on their mountains with honesty and hope.

If your path right now feels like a blind descent—whether it’s grief, burnout, or a decision you can’t see through—Brian offers two anchors:

Faith and focus.
Focus reduces the impossible to the next step.
Faith entrusts the outcome to God.

Be still. Ask. Listen. Then move.

If this episode encouraged you, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who needs steady ground today.

Transcript

Meet Brian Dickinson

The Blind Descent Begins

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Welcome back to Between the Prayer and the Promise. This is a space where we have honest conversation about what God is forging in us while guiding us through the darkness of the unseen as we hold fast to what he has spoken. Today's episode is called When Sight Fails But Faith Stands. Because sometimes the mountain isn't symbolic, sometimes it's real. It's cold, it's high, oxygen is running out, vision is gone, and the rescue hasn't come yet. Psalms 46 and 10 says, Be still and know that I am God. That verse feels peaceful when you're safe. But what does it mean when you're blind at 29,000 feet? Today we're gonna find out. My guest is Brian Dickinson, a former U.S. Navy aviation rescue swimmer, solo Mount Everest summit climber, best-selling author of Blind Descent, keynote speaker, and podcast host. In 2011, Brian survived a blind descent from the summit of Mount Everest, the tallest mountain on earth alone. Hi Brian, so take us back to the moment on Mount Everest. What was happening physically and spiritually when you realized you were alone and out of oxygen and you were losing your vision?

SPEAKER_03 2:08

Yeah, so it's May 15th, 2011. And I'm one of very few people to ever truly soloed the summit of Everest. And I didn't intend to do that. It was just one of those things. Um only a couple days where you can actually summit the mountain. Um, my Sherpa friend who I was climbing with ended up getting sick. He went back down. I continued up. Um, I was on the top of the world, and it was uh just a you know a two-month expedition, very emotional. And because of a goggle malfunction the day prior, as soon as I started descending down from the summit, I went completely blind. And that's snow blindness. So that's the sun burning of the cornea. And because you're so high on Everest, you know, at 30,000 feet, there's only a third of the air, third of the ozone protection up there. As soon as the sun banked off the ice, fried my cornea. Um, I wouldn't regain my eyesight for a month and a half. So at that point, I just I dropped down, grabbed the rope. So there's fixed lines that are attached to anchor points, and assess the situation. And I just remember at that moment, you know, just being exhausted, but I knew I had to get down, just realizing I'm at the highest point in the world, completely blind, all alone, and I had to survive. I had to find a reason to get up and start moving. And without overthinking it, I just I got up and I started moving. And in my my past life, I was an aviation rescue swimmer in the Navy. And our job is to never panic, it's to rescue, save lives, people that are panicking in the middle of the ocean or jumping out of a helicopter. So a lot of that came back, and I I know panic kills, so you know, by all means, there's I shouldn't be alive. Like no one survives that. You know, there's a 99.99 whatever percent that I wouldn't survive. But the second I start thinking that I'm already dead. So I just I got up and I started moving just slowly using my other senses. I was trying so hard to use my eyes, and it's everything is bright white when you're snowblind, just very painful. Um, you cannot see a thing. And the entire time I just I felt this presence around me. I I never thought about it. It was like if you and I are in a room, you close your eyes, you know I'm there, even if I don't say anything, it was just just peaceful presence. And I just I kept moving just very, very slowly, one step at a time.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

Yeah, there was a couple of things that you said that kind of stood out to me. So I might jump around a little bit. Um, I want to jump back to some of the physical things. So um you were kind of blindsided, so losing your vision, what other sensories experience were most vivid for you? Like what sounds or smells or internal or eternal sensories like kind of stood out to kind of like help you move forward?

Senses, Wind, And The Knife-Edge Ridge

SPEAKER_03 5:31

Yeah, it's a good question. And I'm not normally blind, so I tried so hard to use my eyes, and I just you you can't see anything. It's like if there's a light bulb right in front of your face, you can move your finger in front between the light bulb and your eyes, and you'd see a shadow, but you cannot even focus on your your finger. Um, so with that, I was trying to use my vision, just didn't work. Um, the things that really stood out were sound because I could hear 50 mile an hour gusts of wind come up over a ridge. And at the summit of Everest, this the whole path, it's this ridge that is a literal two-mile drop on each side of you. So it's maybe two feet wide. So it is I would hear that, and that would knock me off balance. I had to like hunker down, it would go over me, I'd get up and then take another step. And this whole time I just felt that peaceful presence around me. So I don't know if that's like a sixth sense. Um, but again, I didn't didn't overthink it. Um, the other senses like smell, I don't remember anything with smell. Um, the touch, I was definitely using touch on Everest and some of these higher mountains. You have so much gear on, it's hard to like actually feel anything because it's a rope and you're have cramp on the spikes on your boots, you know. So it's kind of just gaining that purchase. Um, but there's Hillary Step, which is a 40-foot rock climb. I had to reverse my gear, rappel down. I slipped out, pendulumed, hit the rock, and just remember laying there. And there's just a lot of time going by. I mean, this should have taken me maybe three hours to get back to high camp, which is still in the death zone, it's still at 26,000 feet. Um, but it ended up taking me seven. So I had been climbing for you know over 30 hours from the day prior to this point, completely blind. Um, and yeah, I mean, sound was definitely, you know, the clinking of my carabiners, um, clipping in and out of the rope to get around the anchors. Um, but yeah, I don't remember smell. What other senses do we have? Touch, vision, hearing, smell. Yeah, I could definitely the hearing was was big.

Training Against Panic

SPEAKER_00 7:54

And you talked about um being a rescue swimmer, right? So, how did the years of the training that you had um to help others in possible conditions, right? How did that um when you helped others prepare you for the moment to help yourself?

SPEAKER_03 8:22

Yeah, it's it's interesting because in the military, usually you work as a team in a lot of a lot of different areas of the military. Uh, my job, we we did have there was different teamwork that we would do in different mission sets, but the the main thing that we do is we jump from a helicopter and we're on our own. So it's a lot of times we're in the ocean and it's one-to-one, one to many survivors that are essentially trying to attack us. And because they just see us as flotation, they're in shock, you know, it's just a way of life. We have to remain calm in that chaotic situation in order to control the outcome of the event, get them back up, hoisted up into the helicopter. So the the training is is incredibly intense. And what's interesting, and I kind of put it together later because I've had you know years to kind of work on the survivor's guilt and you know, just kind of understanding the trauma I went through. Um, in as a rescue swimmer, we worked in the water, so oxygen-deprived situations. And when we were attacked, we one of the techniques we do is actually take them underwater, the person that's locked onto us, to then induce panic in them so that we can maintain control and get them safely up into the helicopter. So it's kind of this um reverse um effect, you know, hand-to-hand combat in the water type of thing. Um, being on the other end of that, being by myself, I knew there was no one coming to get me. I knew there was a high percentage that I wouldn't survive. I just didn't think about that. I thought about my family and actually recited Emily, Jordan, Joanna, and I would take a step. And that's my my kids and my wife. And just in those moments, and you know, just any moment in life, you know, it doesn't have to be blind on Everest, but it's it's finding a reason to survive, to take that one step forward, and it's so so critical.

Naming Family, Finding Purpose To Live

SPEAKER_00 10:23

Wow, that's beautiful. So that is what you kind of clung on to and and held on to. That was your hope, right? So you you said their names and your family names that kind of kept you going and moving forward. That's I'm like, as you're saying this, I'm like visualizing this. I don't know, my stomach is just kind of dropping, like seeing this and and hearing what you experienced. Um, so when you think about your experience, was your faith already a foundation before 2011, or did Everest become the moment when like your faith now it's real? This is this is real now.

Faith Before Everest And After

SPEAKER_03 11:12

Yeah, it's and I don't think I it's a great question. I didn't I don't think I really thought about it until after the fact when I'm on stage and I'm you know still, you know, even today, you know, years later, I'm dealing with the trauma of it. You know, I'll be on stage for a major software company in two days telling my story. And it's one of these things where a lot of people, they when they have trauma in their life, they don't they relive it, but not in such a public form. So it's uh it's been an interesting journey. Um, but my I did have faith. I was a believer in Christ. I accepted Jesus, you know, back in my Navy days. I grew up Lutheran, but it wasn't necessarily a good situation. Um, so it wasn't well, it just it wasn't healthy. Um, so yes, I I was a Christian. Um, I don't ever feel like I had such a tangible experience, or I never gave credit to Jesus for the tangible experiences in my life. This was this was an area of opportunity in my life that I didn't have a choice. I cannot take credit. And a lot of people will want to give, you know, you know, you're the job you did in the military and who you are, you know, you've you're you're stronger than that. Uh trust me, I tried to be. I I tried hard. I didn't even consider that um presence that I had the entire time until I reached a point where I couldn't go on anymore. And it's at that point I surrendered and I witnessed a miracle.

unknown 12:46

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 12:47

You said something, and I kind of want to explore that a little bit more because you are trained. Um you're not just a trained climber, but you just you have training in the the Navy, you have all this experience. Some would say that you just survive because of the good training or luck, and others would say that it was a miracle. How do you how do you give account to both?

Surrender, Prayer, And A Working O2 Bottle

SPEAKER_03 13:13

Yeah, I mean, I I might not have been in that situation in the first place. So there's there's clearly I I got to a certain point up and down that mountain and on every continent. I've climbed all around the world. Um based on my ability to, you know, embrace the suck and push through really difficult situations. I've I know what I'm capable of, not my perceived limits, but in the military, they've you'll see exactly what your your limits are, and then you're expected to push beyond it, or you don't make it through those those types of evolutions. Um, but I'd say that brute force, Brian, got me down to a certain extent. And I believe Holy Spirit, Jesus cruising alongside of me the entire time, just saying, keep going, dummy. How how far do you think you're gonna get on your own? And eventually I reached a point. And what what's just the beautiful the the part that you know me surviving, it's it's one thing. The the most impactful thing to me is just the power of prayer. At that moment when I surrendered around the world, my wife was stirred awake, she just knew I was in trouble and felt the need to pray for me. My best friend did the same. People I didn't even know, they just knew of me because I was blogged on Climbing Magazine and stuff. They just felt this need to pray for me. They reached out later, and in that moment, it's like everything just aligned. And my prayer was simple just God, I cannot do this alone. Please help me. And at that moment, I witnessed a miracle. It was like someone reached down, picked me up off my knees. I felt this unexplained energy and an oxygen bottle that had previously failed. So I was out of oxygen, which usually it's game over. So a bottle that had previously failed started working. And I I still couldn't see. I put all my gear back on and I started repelling down slowly, slowly, and eventually staggered into the highest camp in the world.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

So this is this happened when you feel like you like totally surrendered and said I can't do it anymore.

SPEAKER_03 15:42

Yes. And so instantaneous.

SPEAKER_00 15:46

And later you found out that your wife and others were praying for you at that moment.

SPEAKER_03 15:51

Yeah, like weeks later. Like I still had to get down the mountain. It was still over a week before I got back to Seattle, and and then people were reaching out after that. And it was just layers of just that it was just so so humbling. And I don't know, it's it's a hard, hard thing when like a lot of times we don't feel worthy. Or we have um, I don't know, just those voices in our head, you know, that you know, things that were out of our control as as kids and military and everything else, and we're we're pushing through that trauma. So we don't we don't really feel uh worthy. In a lot of cases, it would have been easier to die on the mountain than to deal with you know all of the the emotional stuff that came, but I've now realize I have to get out of my own way and I'm able to have this conversation with people and meet them where they're at and whatever mountain they're climbing.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

Yeah. So if you had to give a definition for what surrender looks like, or how do you surrender, especially when uh um faith looks uncertain in moments when you feel like God is silent and you don't know how how would you tell somebody to surrender?

SPEAKER_03 17:22

I think it's it's unique to every individual, but I think at the core of it, it truly is getting out of our own way, out of our own mind space. Because I can I can say I surrender right now, and then in my mind, I'm thinking, well, I kind of surrender, you know, but I'm still trying to hold on to it myself. I mean, it is truly a hundred percent trust in God, He is there, He's waiting, I'm proof of it. And it took me coming to you know, seconds from death. Maybe I was, maybe I crossed over. I I don't know. Um, but it it took way too much for me to get there, and I don't I don't feel it needed to. And I feel that is every person walking out there, they're putting their trust in something other than the Lord, and you're gonna fail. Everyone will disappoint you, everyone will fail, and he will not fail you.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

Wow, you had mentioned um that Psalms 46, be still and know that I am God. Um, that is one of your go-to scriptures or highlights. So what does stillness look like in moments of desperation? Or what did it look like for you?

Survivor’s Guilt And Purpose

SPEAKER_03 18:47

Um I think it's been so ingrained in me because of the things that have been outside of my control in my life, you know, things from childhood, uh, just things along the way. And it comes down to remaining calm. And you know, like that's my book, Calm in the Chaos. And it's it's based on that because everyone always asks, How how did you not panic up there? So I'm like, Oh, I'll write a book about it and maybe I'll learn something about myself. But it's it's about not panicking, and it's easy to say, don't panic, but it's about be be still and trust in God. Simple, don't overthink it. And I've I've been pinned down at you know 17,000 feet on mountains in 100 mile an hour winds where I didn't sleep the whole night, my back up against the wall of the tent so it doesn't blow away. And the entire night, I just repeated that verse over and over and over. And here I am.

SPEAKER_00 20:02

You had talked about survivors guilt, and there are statistics that that show that that over 300 people have not have lost their lives, right? Climbing the mountain, and one in 20 don't make it home, right? So did that did that thought ever come in in your your your mind? Why me? Um, how do you deal with that weight? How do you get how did you get or how have you gotten past that survivor's guilt? I think this exact word you used earlier.

Identity Beyond Summits

SPEAKER_03 20:49

So yeah, it's a real thing. And it's not even just on the mountain, it's military. I've lost lots of friends that I served with. Um, and it's it's tough because you in in the military, I'm flying in helicopters. I could go fly and do my thing for five hours, land on the aircraft carrier, the next crew swaps out, they take off, crash, and they die. So it's like, why am I spared on the mountain? A lot of people would avoid mountaineering or certain things in life because of the statistics. But I think in all of those, you train for the things within your control, and then you're prepared for the things outside your control, and you have to give up summits. You know, I've given up many summits on different mountains to save lives to rescue people, it's just part of me. Um, but it doesn't make it any easier. Yeah, the fact that there's 300 out of bodies that are still up there on Everest and like on Denali, you know, it's 500 and Rainier and all these other mountains. There's statistically a lot more deaths. Um, I I think a lot of us we get into it, and even in the military, like, well, it'll never Ever happened to me. Um, but not being arrogant, but like training so hard and making good choices and calculated risks to make sure it doesn't happen to you. But there are things outside of our control, avalanches and things that can happen. You know, how many times you drive on the freeway, and what are the statistics of you know being in a crash? It doesn't stop you from driving. Um but survivor's guilt is it it is tough because you get back. I got back, and everyone loves a survival story, but they don't necessarily think much about the survivor and what they're gone through and the trauma and and the guilt and everything. And it's it's tough. Like be on I'd be on stage just weeping, or you know, have the news at my house filming something, and yeah, it it's tough. And how I get through that is, you know, I think it's the the purpose piece. Okay, what is my purpose? What are my God-given talents? You know, God, why why did you spare me and not these other people? And I don't know everyone's story, and I don't I can't answer for them, I can only answer for me, and I know that I've been able to just share my story to millions and have those one-on-one conversations where I'm praying and you know, weeping together with someone who's not been able to talk about some tragic event in their life until they heard my story, and it's it's powerful, and I don't feel worthy, but I know I have to get out of my own way in that moment because I know God put me there for a reason.

SPEAKER_00 23:51

Um let's just talk a little bit about identity. Um, how has surviving um this miracle reshaped your identity um and your calling, who you are, um after this that you weren't before?

Family, Presence, And Leading At Home

SPEAKER_03 24:15

Yeah, there's definitely a a version of me prior to this event and a version after, and it's kind of reshaped over time, and my message has changed over time. I'd say prior, I was a Christian, but I wasn't I didn't have a platform, I wasn't on stage, you know. I I'd have a one-on-one conversation and that type of thing. This forced me out of my comfort zone, and I'm still not comfortable until I get on stage and I can start talking. Like I have a talk coming up in two days and I'm nervous about it. Um and I've told this story so many times, but I just I know it's it's impactful and I just I want to make sure it's it's real and can have that impact on every every single person in that audience. So I'd say from just I don't know, just uh evangelical um perspective and having the confidence and ability to share my faith. And everyone's brave behind a keyboard, you know, everyone's an expert with Wikipedia and Google. Um, so I've I'd get attacked plenty. I don't read any of that because it's it's not healthy, it's not healthy on the good or the bad. You know, if people are just attacking you, that just it's because it's shining the light in their darkness and they just they want to go after someone or they have some sort of disagreement. Um, and on the flip side, if people are saying how wonderful you are, you don't want to be reading that stuff either, because that'll go to your head. So I don't know. When my mom before my mom passed, she used to read those things and go after people on Amazon. And I'm like, mom, she's a mom at heart. I know, I appreciate it, but yes.

SPEAKER_00 26:11

So um you you just said you you have a speaking engagement coming up. Um, and so you do you speak around the world, you speak on resilience, leadership, all this wonderful things. What do you want people listening um to walk away with knowing not just about your story, but even about their own story?

SPEAKER_03 26:36

Yeah, even I think it it applies and how I end all of my talks is you know, how did I survive? Why am I alive? And for me, it really and I I like to simplify things because we just we have so much going on. Um, but I think it's so important to, you know, just be able to look at our own lives and find a couple things in a keynote that you can apply. And for me, it came down to faith and focus. And focus is always ironic because I couldn't see a thing, but in that moment, I was able to assess what was happening and what it would take to take another step. It wasn't about getting down the mountain, it was about taking that next step. And you accumulate enough of those, and eventually you'll get there, you'll get past whatever moment that you know, or crisis or anything. And then faith, surrendering, trusting in the Lord, not trying to do it on your own. And I think my story is all about my whole life. I I was strong enough, I'm gonna do it on my own. I'll own this, I'll play God. Don't play God.

SPEAKER_00 27:56

Don't play God. That's God. So if everything else is stripped away, the summit, the book, the story, all of that gone. Who is God to you now?

SPEAKER_03 28:11

Oh, he's everything, and all of that stuff is stripped away because I focus on him. I'm connecting all throughout the day. You know, first thing in the morning, always doing a Bible study. I've written uh multiple devotionals on the the Bible lab. I don't read my own, I read the other ones that are actually good, and yours is good too for absolutely. But it's you have, you know, there's too much stuff that floods our our phones and our brains and our lives. You gotta filter that out, and all that stuff's going to be there, but it's it's not healthy, and you got to find what is healthy, and it's it's that walk, it's the walk of faith, and it's connecting everything that you do, and I'm not perfect by any means, I'm as flawed as anyone, so I have to constantly remind myself, but I have to bring everything back to him always. That's my goal, and that's everything stripped away. It's my relationship with him.

SPEAKER_00 29:20

I want to go back to something. I have like just a few more questions, but there was something you said earlier um about your you said your family's name, um, and that was kind of like your hope, and kind of that that helps you to keep going. And so obviously that is extremely important to you, and you hold it dear to your heart, and it it obviously gave you strength, right? So now based upon the experience that you had and what happened, how is your experience and how do you experience and lead your family differently based upon that?

What’s Next And Healthy Identity

SPEAKER_03 30:06

Yeah, so my kids at the time were I forget, maybe like five and eight, or maybe younger, maybe seven and four, but um it was tough because when I got back, you know, the the media was all over it. They wanted to make a movie and like all this stuff. I had to like just pause on everything, like I'll write a book because that's journaling, that's therapeutic, and then we'll go from there. Um, but I'm also on stage, and my kids, you know, knew that what I had done, but you know, not the specifics, they were too young, and I would try to hide hide that from them, probably at a fault, but at the same time protecting them. Um, but you know, kids at school and stuff would tell them things. Um, but I've I don't know, I've always been super present when I'm home. And even when I was gone, I was I've put um scavenger hunts together and you know, notes and you know, gifts and different things to keep them keep us connected when we couldn't actually connect. Um, but they were young and it's you know, that's it's tough, you know, whether I'm in the military and I'm deploying or leaving to do, you know, deploying, I guess, in a different form. Um, but no, we've yeah, we're uh we've always been really, really close and really adventurous, but not to the point where I'm pushing them beyond their limits, but uh definitely showing them their limits and um just making everything a good experience. You know, their their resume of you know, adventures is is pretty impressive and um both you know strong in their faith and involved in the church. And my son's at a a Chris, the biggest Christian college right now. Daughter's uh working at a Christian college, already has her degree and um getting her journalism degree at NYU. Um my wife is a Christian counselor, so I I just I feel like we've we're always gonna fail as parents, you know, and we realize as we're going. But uh, you know, you have good intentions, you try. Um, but so far, so good. We have a really tight relationship and and faith is at the core of everything.

SPEAKER_00 32:21

Wonderful. So, of course, I want you to um say some encouraging words and things of that nature and tell people how they can connect. But before we get to that, is there anything that I should have asked you that I didn't? Is there any question that people always ask you that maybe I missed?

SPEAKER_03 32:40

Um, it's if it's um if I'm talking, because I'll do like um Zooms and different things with like grade schools sometimes that are like reading my book, and someone always asks, where do you go to the bathroom? Um that's a classic question from any. I've just sit there and I wait for it. Um, I mean, everyone always asks what's next, and it's actually my the question. I hate the word, you know, whatever. It's like never gonna top what I've done. And adventure just looks different. So I just feel like it's a normal question and for people to ask, what mountain are you climbing now? And you know, it's like it's like my identity is in that, and hopefully by the end of this.

SPEAKER_00 33:48

How do we overcome that? How did you overcome like that?

Encouragement: Be Still, Ask, Listen

SPEAKER_03 33:54

Like there has to be a next level up, yeah, yeah, and it's it is, and I I talk about this often. Um, I have my own podcast called the Calm and the Chaos Podcast, where I just interview rescue swimmers, past and present. And um getting out of the military, it's it's very, very difficult with PTSD and just the the you know, you're you spend 20 plus years where you'll jump on a grenade for someone, then the next day you're just hanging out on the couch. It's like it's a hard transition because our identity is in whatever we are doing. And if we're always trying to top that, I can't go higher than ever. Um, but you know, I could still travel around the world and keep climbing and you know, being away from my family. And I just I feel it's it's a dangerous slope. Um, even people that are at work until they retire and then they don't know how to retire. I think it's it's a balance and you gotta you you have to prioritize, you know, relationship, service. Um, it's your identity should not be tied up in your job or your degree or anything else. That's just a part of part of it, you know, but your identity should be in Christ. And if you're not working towards that, it's it's very, very difficult. And honestly, for me, I did the seven summits, so the highest peaks on the seven continents. It's a pretty big, pretty big thing. And then once that's done, it's like, okay, what's next? And why does there have to be something next? You know, in instead of that, and I I still climb and I still do stuff, it's just not at the tempo that the other was, you know, at that time in my life, that season of life. Instead, I turn and you know, travel and do adventures with my family, and I have those experiences. And now in my 50s, I'm you know, writing books and they're still wanting to make a movie about this. So, you know, adventure exists, it just looks different. And I think the sooner we can embrace that, the more healthy and happy we're gonna be because you put your identity in one earthly thing and you've already lost.

SPEAKER_00 36:12

Yeah, that's good. That is great. So for someone climbing their own mountain right now, they feel alone, spiritually blind right now, they can't see hope, they can't even see God. What encouragement would you offer them?

SPEAKER_03 36:28

Yeah, I think it comes back to be still, just pause. Have for me, it's nature therapy. It is getting outside, outside of anything that can enter into my brain. Because if I'm in the house, I don't know, it's just there's something about the fresh air and just going for a walk and having that clarity. It's amazing how much stuff just goes into my head. I can be writing a book and I think it's it's good. I go out for you know a couple mile walk, and it's like I rush back because it's like, wow, I just I'm not in my own head at that point. I'm actually breathing fresh air and getting exercise and just seeing God's creation all around me. It just kind of creates this stillness that allows me to actually function instead of just being, I don't know, robotic at home because you just kind of go through the motions and stuff. So I think nature therapy is important, but you know, anyone that's going through anything, I mean, it is it's pause, you know, pause and just be still. Know that God is there and ask God and guess what? Listen.

SPEAKER_00 37:47

Ooh, that's a good one. Be still, ask God and listen. Brian, thank you. This has been so wonderful for those that want to follow your journey. If they want to hear you speak, if they want to get your book, um, how can they find you? How can they connect?

SPEAKER_03 38:06

Yeah, yeah, I'm I'm out there in the the inner web. So, Brian Dickinson. My website is BrianDickinson.net. I'm on every flavor of social media, and yeah, I'm pretty easy to find. Amazon has all my books, but I'm I'm also in bookstores and everywhere else.

Closing Prayer And Send-Off

SPEAKER_00 38:25

Wonderful, wonderful. Thank you. Thank you so much. I appreciate you sharing your journey. I know that it encouraged me. Um, and I really believe that someone listening um will be encouraged, has been encouraged. And um, we're gonna go ahead and we are going to close out in a little prayer here today. Thank you, Brian, again for joining us. So, Heavenly Father, we just thank you. We thank you, Father, that you are the God of the summit and the valley, that you don't leave us in the dark alone or without a way through. For every listener who's in the moment where they cannot see you, remind them that you can you can see them. When their strength is gone, be their strength, Father God. When their sight has failed, be their guide and remind us that you are still God. Be still and know that He is God. In Jesus' name, we pray. And for those listening, if you are between a prayer and a promise, remember that God is not silent, he is still speaking. Lean in. Trust him. He's closer than you think. When sight fails, faith still stands. God is faithful. Thank you for listening. Be sure to like, follow, and share with someone who might need encouragement.