We have all been there. The valley. Sometimes we are there for a long time. Sometimes it feels like a short visit. Sometimes we feel like we’re being used for the kingdom to do good or even great things. Other times, we wonder if God sees us at all.
I once heard it described this way. It takes approximately two weeks, from base camp, to get to the top of Everest. Depending on the weather, it can take longer. When you finally make it to the summit, you can stay for about forty-five minutes. You can’t breathe up there. Nothing grows there. No grass, no trees. No animals live there. Snow, ice, and rocks. That is what is up there. After forty-five minutes, you must start to make your trip back down. As you get closer to the valley, you start to see life. Trees, grass, wild life.
What I’m saying is this. Nothing grows on the mountain top. Maybe, just maybe, God keeps us longer in the valley, to grow us. Mountain tops are pretty. They serve a purpose. But life is not sustained there.
I’m not going to sit here and write a lie. I’m not going to tell you that I prefer the valley. I do not. I like the mountain top. I love that feeling of closeness to Jesus. I am also not going to sit here and write that I love the growing part. I can’t say that I do. Usually, to get something to grow, there needs to be some pruning. Pruning hurts. Even when it is for our own good. Even when we know that the part that has been pruned needs to go. It is difficult. No one said giving your life to Jesus was going to make life all rainbows and butterflies.
I do know this. He will be by our side on our trip up and on our trip down. Deuteronomy 31:8 It is the Lord who goes before you. He will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.
Psalm 121:1-8 I lift my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; He will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.
He created the mountains and the valleys. He knows every rock and blade of grass on them. Do not think for one minute that He can’t help you walk through them.
Just Keep Walking
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