Life is full of ups and downs, mountaintop experiences and valley meanderings too.
Do you ever find yourself living in "la la land" though wanting to stay on the mountain top with all it's thrills, pats on the back, high fives and that feeling of accomplishment? I know I do! No wonder the movie musical La La Land was so popular!
If I look back on my life and look to people I admire most, we have all experienced some minor or major set backs, heartbreak, and pain. It sucked big time going through it, and many instances I wouldn't wish it on my closest friends. Some caused by my own humanity, others caused directly or indirectly from others, and more often than not-some unexplained reasons because we are simply living in a fallen world. 'Tis life here on earth.
To be honest, if it wasn't for most of the trials in life, the lonely moments , days, weeks, months or even years of valley times, I know I wouldn't be where I am at today. Closer to God, and digging deep to love and forgive others, and taking a deep breath to love and forgive myself. It is in that secret place- we have opportunities to grow in faith.
Restoration is a journey. I believe wholeheartedly that God gives each and every person the opportunity to come to know Him personally and that He gives us gifts and experiences so unique to us that there is no other cookie cutter replica of you and me. We all have dreams, and for many of us those dreams have been chocked out by the painful trials of life so we forget to dream, we loose sight of the dream or we give up on the dream because it is just too hard. We loose hope and faith can dwindle easily. Jesus knows all too well of pain, betrayal, and challenges of every kind.
“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
Jesus knew that we'd need faith to climb to the mountaintops of our journey, he also knew that we'd need the valley times in our lives to chisel us deep from within the core of our being. Why? So that we too could identify with the suffering of others. We just can't get around it, life as we know it is full of pain and suffering because we simply live in a fallen world. I love Jesus' words in John 16:33 that declares that He has overcome the world. So to follow Jesus, we to will share in His mountain tops and identity with His sufferings. (Romans 8:17). So my friends, whatever dream or vision you have for your life, your family and your world, we simply need to stay close to Him and allow our Saviour and Lord to take us up the mountain to experience joy, faith, hope and love as well and be open to experience all of that supernaturally in the valley's too. We simply cannot impart what we first don't possess.
We need to possess the deep wells of faith that only can be imparted to us when we experience God transformational presence who loves us, ministers to us, speaks to us from the inside out. It's faith bootcamp really. If we knew in advance the painful trials we'd have to go through in order to get to the dream or the "other side", we simply wouldn't try. Our humanity would keep us in shackles and live life out of fear rather than to live by faith.
“Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen, it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. ”
What about you? Are you in a mountaintop time of your life or valley? Either experience can be an incredible opportunity for faith to grow. It's a relinquishment of our stubborn will to listen to what our Creator is seeking to impart to us, and ultimately position ourselves to receive it. What I've learned that it is never meant just for my own gain, but ultimately for the sake of others.
