Writing 4 Saturday...7/11/20..."The Valley and Mountain"

Good Morning,

Do you sometimes feel shocked when the calendar page sounds the welcoming, but an illusional alarm announcing that the week is coming to an end? Oh I know,there is still Saturday, which used to be a day to play and to forget the weekday toils. Now, we are hard put to find a way to have a mini weekend “vacation.” I have not mentioned the present crisis that keeps us unable to do the ordinary things that we love to do. Nobody likes masks, and everyone misses hugging of special friends. However, we must remind ourselves that God is in everything and is working according to His plans for all of us.

I am excited to tell  you that we have a new writer on the WFM Writing Staff. Her name is Joy Lear-Bernard. I am just getting to know Joy, and I look forward to a new writer. The beauty of it is that each writer writes from their unique paradigm, and the reader gains new understandings,

Here is a quote from Joy’s writing, “Should you find that for this season you are in a valley place, it is my hope that His affirmations remind you that He is in the experience with you. He promises to not leave, to give us what we need, and to bring us to a deeper relationship, reliance, and faith in Him."

God bless you with a happy day,
Corinne Mustafa
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Today's Devotional

 "The Valley and Mountain"

 Written by 

Joy Lear-Bernard

We so often hear a valley mentioned  in scripture to reference a physical space which is 

described as 'a low level ground between two higher areas'.This definition does not conjure any mystery or unpredictability. On the contrary, it suggests that as sure as there are mountainous areas there will be valleys between. 

Many of us can relate to the valley experience as a picture for our own lives. If asked to describe a valley you may offer more somber than sweet adjectives. I asked just that question to some dear friends who indeed shared words like 'lonely', 'stark' , 'dry',"never ending" and the list goes on. Whilst we may be aware that deserts may have spots of water it is the more vivid imagery of arid barrenness that we tend to picture. 

Nowhere more than in the Bible the poet David's imagery do we sense the hardness of the valley experience. Psalms 23 exposes the 'Valley of  the shadow of death' He finds his fear dispelled only because God is with him. But for sure he knew he was in a valley, and a  deathly one at that. 

Ezekiel's vision speaks of  the valley where  dry bones lay. It is a dreadful yet hopeful picture. Promising that God can resurrect lifeless hopeless situations. And don't we sometimes feel just like those dry bones. Left far too long in a place of hopelessness and depleted from the cause. 

We can find great comfort from the  imagery of scripture  as it resonates as metaphors for the  difficult phases we face in our walk. We may have found the barrenness of a situation, the pain of a loss or illness, a difficult job, or a relationship break down all described in those valley Scriptures. And don't they just suction the comfort feeling into pain. The result is that we spend many times with silent private tears to God. 

We may often wonder why these experiences have to snatch us from our higher plains and leave as feeling alone. Why me? Why now? and how will I survive this?! . However,  two  things we can hear whispered to us from God's word during our valleys seasons are offered below to help give some guidance,  soothing and hope to endure. 

Looking at the terrain around us will often leave us further depleted. Having given all we can in prayers time and tears our present situation can feel as if it offers us very little to get through the journey. At these times David wrote...

I look to the mountains;
    where will my help come from?
My help will come from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth.

Psalm 121:1-2

In this scripture David made a decision to look to the hill for his help. He recognized that there was  no obvious source of help in the valley, but as sure as there was a valley, there were hills! It is lighter and brighter there. It may seem a way into the distance but he was able to see something completely different. Not too far out of reach if he kept going. An old hymn we would hear our dear elders singing song that says...

 "Father, I stretch my hands to thee, no other help I know,

 if thou withdraw thyself from me, the whence shall I go.

Ultimately ahead of us, looking up, there is a higher plain.

 But we  stood right there in the valley whilst we choose to look up."

 We have the beauty of grasping our God's glory
 just by changing our perspective. 

As sure as we have known a mountain top  behind  us then before us, there it shall be again! . But our safest assurance is squeezed by the  pressure of our nothingness to grab to the surest one we know. Our loving God whose terrain does not change. He has loved us with an everlasting love and he actually becomes our refuge and our strength right here, in our present moment. He presents help. 

It is often easy to miss this next thought. 

Amidst all the pressure, heat and dry land the valley has a feature so amazing and miraculous. It is the presence of water. . God gives that sweet source as if from nowhere. It opposes the trajectory of our present suffering and reminds us were alive! And He is our very life source, given to us no matter how lonely we are. 

Now, if you're like me you may well likely go for the chocolates and tissues during these times! But here he gives a stream of water, life flowing, necessarily, a 'just enough' kind of sustenance so we become reliant on His nearness and sovereignty.  Sure, the mountain likely has more vegetation and variety but there in the VALLEY God gives us just what we need to survive. He gives us himself in order to help us lean into the necessity of our deepest existence in Him. 'Your name is like honey on my lips, your Spirit like water to my soul,' David resounded. God told David and He tells us that changes, no matter how insignificant it seems at the time,,,"Here I am! Here is life.!"

Should you find that for this season you are in a valley place, it is my hope that His affirmations remind you that He is in the experience with you. He promises to not leave, to give us what we need, and to bring us to a deeper relationship, reliance, and faith in Him.

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Rich Mullen

Singing

"MY DELIVERER"

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Prayers are lifted up daily for you by the Devotional Writers 

and the Monthly Writing Staff of Women's Focus Ministries.

Blog Writers

 Sandy Billingham, Carol Steficek, Jody Ward
Joy Lear-Bernard, Cathy Friberg, Julie Tofilon, Synthia Nibasi

Jan Andersen and  Corinne Mustafa 

  

Occasional Contributors
Kathy Bireley,  Terri Baker

Lynda Kinnard, Beverley Napier, 

 Amie Spruiell, Linda Garrett, and Lisabeth Lipp