The funny thing about walking through the valleys in our lives, is how we feel at the other end. I just walked through a valley and I’m so grateful to God for what I went through.

That’s the funny part. If God would have approached me in the beginning and said, “I’ve got a proposal for you. This year you will try and find a job, but get absolutely no where. You will receive rejection after rejection until you actually will physically hurt. You will began to question everything you’ve done for the past twenty years. You will began to question whether I love you or not. Everyday, you will feel lower than the day before. Sometimes, you will question if I ever cared for you. You will feel stressed and utterly alone. How would you like that?”

I wouldn’t have to think about that for any length of time. “Um, no thank you, Lord.” But that’s just it. God never asks us in the beginning. We would all say no. Walking through the valley isn’t fun. It isn’t something to look forward to. But God, in His infinite wisdom and love for us, takes us THROUGH the valley, then helps us at the other end. We look back and we see God’s fingerprints on everything we went through. We see those footprints in the sand, where He carried us. Hindsight is twenty/twenty. It all makes sense. And we see ourselves: stronger, more humble, gentler, and soooo grateful. We came out the other end. We are still alive. Our vision is sharper and more vivid of who God really is.

But to get to that place, we must all walk through the valley. Like a diamond that requires huge amounts of pressure to become a diamond, so we too, must experience pressure to become more refined. God wants to refine us. He wants to make us more like Him. The more pressure a diamond is under, the more beautiful and clear it becomes. The more pressure, the less flaws. So are we like diamonds. The more pressure we experience, the more valleys we walk through, the more refined we become. That’s what God wants from all believers.

My son asked me the other day about finding a job this year. I found myself answering him, saying, “Well I had to go through things this past year. This year is different.” My son probably didn’t understand a word I said. I said it more for myself and God. I was acknowledging God and what I went through this year. I felt grateful to Him for this entire year. I’ve been feeling so very grateful everyday.

So believer, if you’re not going through a valley right now, you will be. All of us do. You won’t know it’s coming. I can tell you, from coming out the other side, fasten your seatbelt, it’s going to be a bumpy ride. But you do have a Savior who loves you. Whatever you do, don’t forget He loves you. Hang onto those truths and you will be okay. It’s great on the other side.

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil for You are with me; thy rod and thy staff comfort me,” Psalms 23:4

How many times have you read that verse? When people hit problems, they are often reminded of that verse. Often, people will tell us, “Oh, you are going through the valley.” We are reminded that believers must all walk through the valley, throughout our lives.

I don’t want to focus on the aspect that we all have to walk through the valley. I want to focus on a key word: through. It doesn’t say when you get stuck in the valley or once you’re are in the valley. It says you walk through the valley. Through means you aren’t staying. Through means, there is an end. You are going through. You will come out the other side. Through, I think, is a hopeful word. It means this trek through the valley is exactly that. You will get through it.

I know for me, I need to focus on the word, through. I like hearing that I’m going through it because it implies there is an end. Valleys are just holes in the ground. They dip down, but raise up on the other side. I really like that visual. I will go through the valleys, but I’m not staying there. I’m just passing through. I’m not stuck forever. “This too shall pass.”

Everything has a time limit. Our life on this planet is timed. We have a short time, “then it is appointed to every man to die.” If you are going through a valley right now, try and focus on the word: through.

I’ve been applying this to other uncomfortable things in my life. For instance, I hate needles. I know I’m not the first person or the last person to hate needles. But I am part of that club that does. Now that I’m older, my doctor asks me to get blood tests every once in awhile. I hate them. Like really, really hate them. The thought of getting a needle stuck in my arm, makes my heart beat louder and faster and my stomach does flip flops.

So I had to get a blood test about a month ago. I began to dread it. Then I began to approach it in a more grown up fashion. The blood test takes less than a minute. Less than a minute of my life, I will have a needle stuck in my arm, then it will be all over. Done. Kaput. I think I can handle that. There is a sense of relief, knowing it will all be over quickly.

So next time you are in the valley, remind yourself that you are going through it. You aren’t staying. You don’t have to set up camp. This isn’t permanent. You are going through it. There will be the other side that you come out of. It will not last forever (though sometimes it may seem like that). So take heart. Believers all walk through the valley of the shadow of death. But the key is: we walk through them!

How big is your God believer? If you are facing problems, which we all do, how big is God? Is the problem big? Or, is your God big?

When I walked through the waiting time, I had to reread scripture to remind me how big God is. The enemy is always after us, as Believers. He will never let us go. He will never stop trying to bring harm to us. It’s what he does.

We, as Believers, have to really be careful to make sure what we think, actually align with scripture. That’s why God gave us His Word. In it, we read who God is, how God operates and how big He truly is. It’s easy to get trapped in the enemy’s lies. The enemy couches the lies into something that sounds remotely like truth. If we are feeling down about ourselves, the enemy will capitalize on that, and remind us why we should in fact feel badly. If we have doubts about God’s love for us, the same thing, the enemy will come in and confirm those doubts. That’s why it’s vitally important to stay in the Word.

So, going back to my original question, how big is your God? Is the problem you’re facing much bigger than God can handle? Is the problem person you are dealing with, much stronger than what God can do? How big is your God?

The true God, the God of scripture is unimaginably powerful. Here’s a glimpse of His power. He speaks, and the winds and seas obey Him. Have you ever been in a really loud scary storm? Have you heard the wind pound on your windows, where it sounds as if they will break? Have you been on a boat, when winds come up and toss the boat around like it’s a toy?

When I was younger, I spent my summers subsistence fishing. We would put out our net, catch a load of salmon, then pull the net in. The current in Bristol Bay, where I grew up, could be really powerful. Many times, when we tried to pull our net in against the current, it felt like we were pulling against an invisible giant who was pulling the opposite direction. It would take 7-10 of us, pulling with all of our might, and we could barely bring the net in. The rope would actually shake with the struggle between the two forces.

And yet God speaks, and winds and the sea obey Him. The mountains are His feet. He is the One who walks on water. He made the blind to see. He made the lame walk. He rose from the dead. He is the One who created the sea with all of its might and power.

So I ask you again, how big is your God? If you are going through trials and tribulations, what do you believe about God? If you’ve forgotten, go to scripture and remind yourself. Remember who God is. In the face of the living God, your problem will shrink down. So remind yourself how big God is. Trust me, it will sooth your mind.

Why do we have to go through trials? So many times I wish life was easy. So many times I have cried out to God, “Please Lord, help me!”

For the past few years I have suffered a major car accident that totaled our car, but I walked away from. I’ve suffered through rejection after rejection, trying to get a job. I’m not going to lie to you, it stung every time. But throughout the experience, it drew me closer to God, closer to His word. When I opened Scripture, I saw the real God and not the fake god the enemy was lying to me about. I found several scriptures that I read over and over again. They brought me peace and encouragement.

God doesn’t take away our pain. But He does give us encouragement through it. His word it that place of encouragement.

“Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him,” Isaiah 30:18

Read that verse several times, “…the Lord longs to be gracious to you…” He longs to be. He doesn’t happen to be. Or sometimes, He longs to be gracious to me, to you. I’ve read that verse over and over again.

“I sought the Lord, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces will never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and rescues Him. O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!” Psalms 34:4-8.

“The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and His ears are open to their cry.” Psalm 34:14

“The righteous cry, and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.” Psalm 34:17-19

“casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7

“Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.” Psalm 55:22

Scripture is meant to nourish our soul. It not only exhorts us, but it is meant to encourage. There are so many more scriptures that will encourage the believer. And there is a season for everything. If you are walking through the valley, you don’t have to read the scriptures that exhort. Find the scriptures that encourage. There will be another time, another season to read other scripture. But if you are walking through the valley of the shadow of death, grab onto the scriptures that lift you up. I promise, believer, it will bring you encouragement. They’re meant to.

This Sunday we celebrate fathers. So Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there. We love you and are grateful for you.

A few years back, Dr. Wade Horn wrote a story about African elephants. The Kruger National Park needed to thin the growing elephant population. The big adult male elephants were too big, so they moved some of the females and juvenile elephants to another reserve. That solved the problem of the Kruger National Park. But something strange begin happening at the new reserves where the adult females and juveniles were transported to. Something was killing the endangered white rhinos. This was cause for great concern, because the rhinos were endangered. They needed to stop this behavior, so they set up cameras around the reserve to figure out what was going on.

Well they quickly found out what was going on. The juvenile elephants who had been transported to the new reserve had formed gangs and were going around doing very non elephant behavior and killing the rhinos and other animals. This was definitely not elephant behavior. What could be wrong with these young elephants? Why in the world were they acting so aggressively and killing other animals and running in packs?

The only thing they could link the problem to, was that the young elephants didn’t have any adult males around. They had left them in Kruger National Park. To test their theory, rangers flew in some adult male elephants. Within a few short weeks, the juveniles had calmed down and weren’t killing other animals anymore. When the adult males weren’t around, the young elephants didn’t know how to act. When they brought them in, the adult males quickly taught the young elephants how to be a proper elephant.

Fathers and mothers are both important in a child’s life. Studies have shown it. Elephants have shown it. Fathers teach their children things a mother can’t teach their children and vice versa.

God designed the family as a mother and father. Both are extremely valuable in the raising of the children. Children need fathers and mothers. Just like the young elephants needed both male and females elephants to teach them how to be proper elephants.

It’s not popular to say that right now, but it is absolutely true. Just look at the elephants and see how important fathers are. If fathers are so important in elephant world, how much more important are they in people world?

So again, to all the fathers out there, thank you. We appreciate you.