"But You are a shield around me, O Lord; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head. To the Lord I cry aloud, and he answers me from his holy hill. I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me." Psalm 3:3-5
Sometimes you just get to that point where you don't think you can go any further. The world as you know it has come crashing down, and you feel alone. Set adrift, cut loose from the moorings of comfort and routine, left to rediscover what to do with the ashes of your former self. With burnt hands you approach the altar, broken, bruised, battered, longing just to know why. Why life has to be so hard. Kneeling in brokenness, tears fall. Tears of pain, water droplets crystallizing the trial. Tears falling down on tea colored wood, the altar of the Lord. That's where they should be. Your brokenness and pain, on the altar for God to use. For Him to transform. Let Him bind up your brokenness and build on the foundation of realizing that you are at the end of yourself. Let Him draw you close. Sometimes He lets us get burned just so we will turn to Him. So he can pull us close and put aloe and band-aids on our burned hands. He loves us so. We cry in pain, try to blame, push away… then fall helpless and hurting into his arms.
Let Him carry you. This storm will rage, the shadows of the valley loom, but He is here. He is here.
"But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
"Even though I feel so lonely, like I have never been before
You never said it would be easy
But You said you'd see me through the storm"
"For Thou O Lord
Are a shield to me
My glory and the lifter of my head"
Time in the valley doesn't mean a gray cloud of sadness follows you like a shadow. Instead, one moment is filled to the brim with happiness, and the next drops you into a pit of despair... At least it has been so in my experience.
The only way to travel through the valley is to trust He has a plan, and take each day as it comes… step by step. Trusting that His grace is sufficient for this moment, for this hour, for today.
Trials bring strengthening of faith, so my heart's cry… Help me in my unbelief! I believe, even in my unbelief. I trust, even in my confusion. I love you, even in the valley.
Why? Why? Why? That's the consuming question when darkness surrounds and tears drown…
But maybe...maybe the King of the Universe is captivated by you. Maybe He loves you so much He just wants you closer. Maybe the only way you'll ever come close enough is if He sends trials
...and the pain sends you running into His open arms.
Maybe it's crazy, but maybe it's true.
"The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17
"The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O Lord, endures forever- do not abandon the works of your hands." Psalm 138:8
"The pathway is broken, and the signs are unclear
And I don't know the reason why you brought me here.
But just because You love me the way that you do
I'm gonna walk through the valley if You want me to.
Cause I'm not who I was when I took my first step
And I'm clinging to the promise, You're not through with me yet.
So if all of these trials bring me closer to You
then I will go through the fire if you want me to
It may not be the way I would've chosen
When you lead me through a world that's not my home
but you never said it would be easy
You only said I would never go alone
So when the whole world turns against me, and I'm all by myself
And I can't hear You answer my cries for help
I'll remember the suffering Your love put you through
And I will go through the valley
If you want me to." (Ginny Owens)
