The Valley

For these past few months, I’ve been in the valley. I haven’t felt like writing anything in this blog, I’ve isolated myself from friends and I’ve spent a lot of time at home, alone. For those of you who know me, you know that I am a very social person and I have a great deal of love for my friends, so this was a bit strange for me.

At first, I kept feeling like something was wrong with me for being so stuck in this valley. Why can’t I shake this? Why am I no longer feeling inspired to write? I should just pick up the phone and make plans with a friend, right? I kept fighting the valley. I’ve done this my whole life. But now, I realize that this valley, as were many in the past, have all served a purpose for my life. Where I have often fought against the valley, now I can look back and see that the valley is not a place to fear or to fight against; there is a purpose behind these seasons. My prayer is that the next time I go through the valley, I won’t be so afraid of it.

I’ve learned that the valley is a place of process. This is where our character is formed. It’s where if we allow it, God can heal us, restore us and change us. I found some old notes in one of my notebooks that I’ll share with you:

• You need to go through the valley to get to the provision, to handle promotion.
• He will mend you, He will heal you.
• Don’t get up too quickly, lay there and heal.
• God has the number of days already in place for how long it will take you to come out of the valley.
• He is the lily of the valley.
• You learn to trust Him during this time.

As I’m coming out of this valley, I can now look back and see what He was doing during this season. He was getting me one step closer to a dream that I’ve had in my heart for quite some time. You see, during this season, I was able to focus on this dream in a way that I hadn’t had the time for before. Filling my schedule took me off focus, off of the vision for my life.

By having this time in the valley, it has given me the time I needed to move one step closer to making this dream a reality, to put in motion the small steps I needed to take to show God that I believed in Him, that I believed that He put this vision in my heart for a purpose, and as soon as I stepped out in faith, He showed up. He provided what we needed; He made a way for the dream to start to come to pass. And even though it isn’t complete yet, I believe that if it is indeed His will, then it will come to pass.

So the next time the valley comes, I hope that I won’t fight it. I hope that I won’t wonder what’s wrong with me for feeling a certain way or for not wanting to socialize or fill my schedule. I hope that I’ll embrace the valley, I will trust the valley and that I will allow the process to take place.

Habakkuk 2:3 (NKJV)