Thrive.
Not a word I would use when describing my life. If life is made up of peaks and valleys, I’m definitely in a valley. Mine feels very deep and very long and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight. I became very sick in college and haven’t recovered. That was ten years ago, and, for a long time, I chose to stay in a dark place of resentment and frustration. Recently, God gave me a new thought.
Picture a valley. If one isn’t readily coming to mind, head on over to Google images and type the word “valley.” What is the first thing you think of or see?
When I did this little exercise, the first word that came to mind was green. Green. Everywhere. The images I saw were stunning! The deep, dark valley our culture tries to get us to buy into wasn’t there. I saw vegetation. I saw life! I saw a valley teeming with plants and trees and beauty. Sure, there were hills on either side and that can definitely symbolize those mountains we climb in life, but I feel like we are supposed to dread these valleys that life has. We are supposed to take that as a mistake we made and get back up that mountain to the top. The top is the goal. The top is success and where we should want to be.
Up to this point, my valley was dark and I was angry. I wanted to be back on top again. I wanted to be achieving goals and making an impact, not stuck in this pit of despair. God has whispered truth into that lie by simply encouraging me to do a google search. Valleys have life, and so do I. There is so much beauty in my life and in my family. I mean, if you’ve ever seen my labradoodle you’d agree. Literally the cutest and most beautiful puppy around! There is growth in the valley. We don’t stop growing just because we’ve hit a rough patch. I’d argue that we are capable of growing more when we’re in our valleys. We can allow God to use this time to mold and shape us before we transition to the next big thing God has planned.
It’s normal to fear that unknown next step, because it’s a mystery and we don’t understand it. However, we need to be careful that our hearts do not become hardened. In Matthew 6:45-52, we see how the apostles react to the miracle of the loaves and fishes. After that big moment, when they are being tossed on the sea, Jesus walks out onto the water to calm them, and Matthew says that they didn’t understand about the loaves, and “…on the contrary, their hearts were hardened.”
When we aren’t in charge or aware of what is going to happen, it can be natural to shut down. We close the walls to our heart and hold onto that boat for dear life. We harden our hearts to the one person who is there to bring us out of the valley, to help us walk on the water. I was angry at my situation for a long time. I prayed for miracles, I did all the right things, and nothing was happening. Finally, I started praying for God to take away my anger and my resentment to my circumstances.
That was the moment things started happening.
Was I miraculously healed? Nope. But my heart was. The hardening I had built up was softening. I was understanding what COULD happen in my valley. God was showing me how I could still thrive during this season of life. That lie of being incapable was crushed.
Life will never be perfect, and we all will most likely have many different valleys and seasons of life that are hard. We have a choice to either harden our hearts and continue to view these valleys as dark and depressing, or we can soften our hearts to the Lord and choose to look at the life that is present in and around us.
Choose to thrive.
Thank you, Leah! What a beautiful perspective!
Beautiful Amen Amen! I will pray you see the wonder all around you my brother in Christ!
Thank you Deacon Ralph. Your honesty and asking the Lord to take the anger out of me a prayer I have not prayed but will now. Terri H.
Humble Thanks, Terri, I will pass this on to Leah.
Thank you for your words. I had an interesting prayer with Jesus about the valley of my life at a retreat last week. We were reading and reflecting on Ezekiel 37 and Jesus showed me something new. He was walking with me through a dark and desolate valley and I recognized so many memories of my life there. But as we walked, the valley was coming to life. He pointed out that those were the places that I had let him touch and heal. There were memories as a child of being left out and rejected. There were the times of suffering loss of loved ones, stress in my marriage, and times of physical illness and emotional trauma; all were coming to life with grass, trees, flowers and birds.
However, in this one space there was a dark and dead place that was still empty and desolate. When I asked, Jesus explained that I hadn’t fully let him into that space. It is the space I had traveled through severe trauma and been a survivor of a deadly bank robbery and a witness in multiple court trials. While I have healed so greatly and I thought the Lord had fully redeemed that for me allowing me to move forward with a deep personal relationship with him, he pointed out that I still have held some of the pain and memory from him. He wanted to go there and take that too.
I’m still trying to turn all of it over to him instead of trying to carry those remaining fragments of loss, hurt, and anxiousness about those things I cannot control like a legal system and thoughts that trigger the tough memories. I want a heart that wants full redemption for myself and everyone involved. I have been made new in this valley. I have grown and continue to grow in this beautiful and blessed valley.
Thank you for sharing Sheryl.
Wow, Leah, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom on the value of our inevitable “valleys.” I will continue to pray for you, and try to remember to allow God to help me to avoid resentment and hardness of heart. We love you!!
Thanks for sharing. Just what I needed.