Valleys

The Webster Dictionary defines "valleys" as "a low point or condition". Valleys aren't the most desired place to be. You certainly don't want to be there during a flood. Nor during a war. High ground is always the safe bet in those situations. In the Christian community, the term "valley" is used to refer to a trial or tribulation.

Our family is in a valley right now...a deep one. After 2 years of desiring to move, we thought we finally had the "go ahead". With a renter in place for our home, we began the hunt for our dream home. The one that the kids would grow up in...that we would grow old in. And to our excitement, we thought we found it! Beautiful! Almost everything we both needed and wanted in a house. Because it was a foreclosure, we had to wait for it to come on the market. Patience. Not an attribute I possess much of...but for some reason, I had peace about waiting. When it finally came on the market, we put in a strong offer and began to pray. Pray that we would be in God's will. And then we waited some more.

Yesterday, we found out that we lost the house by about $2000. OUCH! Valley, here we come! The peace we felt vanished rather quickly...and panic set in. We committed to a renter. We have to be out of our house in a month! Where will we live? Where will we go? And with that...we have become paralyzed. Feeling like we are out of options.

We are treading in the valley. It's never easy to be in the valley. It's lonely down here. The echoes of what could have been reverberate in our minds. The sinking feeling in our gut won't disipate. The circumstances don't make sense to our limited vision. We only see what's right in front of us. And, yet, we weren't meant to see into the future. We weren't meant to do it on our own. That's what faith is all about. Corrie tenBoom once said, "Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God." What wisdom! What insight! And so, we will work to do just that! Our future is bright! And while we may be in the valley, we have a God who is with us to lead us out. He longs for us to be on the mountain top. He never promised the trip would be easy. But he does promise to be our guide. The view from the mountain is spectacular! And we can't wait to get there!