It has been my personal experience that I learned more in my valley experiences than on my mountain tops.
And then God brought me to these scriptures again…
James 5:10
Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering afflection and patience.
I can tell you that the low points of my life have been much better teachers than the high points.
In Psalm 23:4, David wrote
Ye, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear No evil; for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Sometimes, when I am in the valley, it feels like the walls are closing in all around me, and there is no escape.
Sometimes I think, is this all there is?
Is this how my story ends?
But then God shows me that my valley is not the end.
I am learning that God sometimes lets me go through these valleys to instruct me on what I need to know so I can reach and appreciate the mountain top He has waiting for me.
I pray that all of us will have faith that things will change.
For God’s will for all of us is good, acceptable, and perfect.
James 1:2-8
My bretheren count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations.
Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
James is speaking to the 12 tribes of Israel. He tells them that they (we) are to be joyful in our trials because this is the trying of our faith that works our patience.
As painful as it is, sometimes God allows us to go through these valleys and difficult times without any earthly or human comfort so that we might turn completely to him…(a good example, would be Job)
Perhaps our trials are exposing areas of anger, bitterness, or unforgiveness, and we are finding it difficult to perservere.
If this is so, then maybe we are starting to understand what it is God wants us to learn through this valley.
So embrace your valley, as hard as it is.
Try to see what God is teaching you, and remember in the end, there is a blessing.
May God show His power and Hiis love.
Let Him free us from some emotional bondage or destructive habits.
Perhaps we will find that there is a precious quality He wants to develop in us.
Whatever the reason for the valley, you find yourself walking through. Remember God never means it for our harm.
Rather, He means it for our good, so that we may become everything we were created to be and experience His abundant blessings.
So, I pray that each of us might respond during this time in a way that honors Him and that we stay close to Him through His word and in prayer.
As God prepares us for that mountain top, and try to remember the best is yet to come, and God loves you. ❤️
In Yeshua’s love,
Brenda the witness.