I have been through a few valleys. If you are a believer, you surely know what I am talking about. It's funny how every time I end up in one I go through the same thing. I get anxious. I panic. I close my eyes and try to pretend I am not there. Then as I hesitantly allow Jesus to guide me out like a child being dragged through a haunted house, I breathe my sigh of relief and move on to rejoice that I am no longer in the valley. Enough is enough! I am done with running scared from valleys, fearfully and reluctantly trying to make it through the other side. Today is the day I will learn to make the valley my friend. Today I will embrace the valley I am in. Does that mean my heart will not race producing so much cortisol to send my body into bloat status? Of course not. I believe the fear is present to know that we are human and the beauty of the time in the valley is to walk courageously through it reminding yourself that even though you have been through this darkness before, it doesn't always mean it will have the same ending. Sometimes it is different. Also, sometimes the other side of the valley is deliverance into freedom from whatever scared you in the first place. Maybe Jesus is trying to loose the chains around your hands and feet that lead you to avoid your valleys, to get to the other side of your mountain top experience.
Do not let the fear of the valley keep you from the freedom Jesus has for you on the other side!
