https://youtu.be/SLcKEs--KmM
Failures, disappointments, waiting, all tend to embitter the soul. Most of us are afraid of failure and we get terribly anxious when things don't happen when we want them to, the way we want them to. These low points or valleys make us question God, make us question ourselves and suck the hope out of us.
But when things do fall in place, when we are blessed in the most little ways that we never even imagined, we are filled with joy, hope, Love! We praise God from the bottom of our hearts.
Yet the God of the Mountain is also the God of the valley. God is Himself, the almighty one, the beautiful one, the ever merciful one, even when we don't feel any of these things. He doesn't change His nature. He is forever and first, our Father. And we d do well to remember this in our valleys as much as our mountains.
Scripture is replete with verses, incidents and parables that we can call to mind in our valleys. One of my favourites is the one from the Gospel of Luke where Jesus is asleep on the boat during the tempest.
Luke 8: 22 One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they put out, 23 and while they were sailing he fell asleep. A windstorm swept down on the lake, and the boat was filling with water, and they were in danger. 24 They went to him and woke him up, shouting, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he woke up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves; they ceased, and there was a calm. 25 He said to them, “Where is your faith?” They were afraid and amazed, and said to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?”
The disciples wake Him up, saying we are perishing! They imagined their Lord ans master would let them perish. He rebukes them for their lack of faith. But He calms the sea.
So we would also do well to remember that no matter the tempest in our personal, professional, religious, spiritual life, God never slumbers. He only asks us to have faith that in His time, He will make all things beautiful. That there is a time for loosing and for gain. Every purpose under heaven has a time.
So remember this crucial thing when you reach the valley of anxiety, disappointment and failure next time- Jesus only asks you to have faith. And just do the next right thing in that faith. He will take care and make all your bruises and scars beautiful parts of the larger picture.
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