Valley...

Valley... what do you think of when you hear that word?  Me, I often think of the times in life that I've felt like the mountain (or problem) before me was just too overwhelming and too hard to handle.  It's a point in life I'm down and feel defeated like there's no way out.  Many think of that and other things when they think of the word valley.  The actual definition of Valley is a low area of land between mountains and hills.  

Today, I was doing my usual afternoon routine when I got a text from a friend.  The text had a picture of her calendar that showed her word for today.  The passage she shared with me made me smile and made me think about the wonderful love of our God.  Soon after, a song came on that went right along with what I just read.  Ever have those God moments where you just sit back and go WOW?  I have friend that always said, "I just got God (goose) bumps!"  That's where I was in that moment.  

So, the song... let me share some of the lyrics... 

I see shattered You see whole

I see broken you see beautiful 

When I hear these words, I go back to thinking about the valley. Many times in life... we are in the valley because whatever mountain we just faced, knocked us down.  We often feel broken, shattered, alone... Like life has just been too much.  Too hard.  And we look around the valley and we see nothing but surrounding mountains and hills... No one is there... or so it feels... 

BUT God is... in that moment... in that quiet broken place... YOUR GOD!  YOUR PAPA is there.  

This song goes on... 

There's nothing too dirty that you can't make worthy

you wash me in mercy I am clean

I know often, when life hits us and hits us hard... that valley is a place that we feel so unworthy of God's love... so dirty that we are untouchable... A place that we may be there because of someone else.  A harmful touch... abuse in some way... words that cut us down... I could go on and on and probably never ever hit every single thing that can knock us down.  If it wasn't a person... it could be a job or lack thereof.. a medical diagnosis... things at home... Again... so many things... 

But what is Mercy?  Here's what I found... "Compassion or forgiveness shown towards someone who its within one's power to punish or harm..."  WOW!  In HIS... Papa God's MERCY... we are in that valley... in that place that we are the most vulnerable... we are broken, shattered, dirty... whatever term you feel you could put there... and He shows up in Mercy!  Does he hold the power to harm us?  YES!  HE sure does!  Could he punish us? YES he sure could!  BUT... Mercy... Compassion or forgiveness shown to us... Our PAPA GOD!  He chooses, no matter the reason we are in that valley to show mercy!  To LOVE YOU in-spite of whatever is going on!  HE IS THERE!!!!  

This song still continues... 

What was dead now lives again

Hope is beating, beating inside my chest

I'm coming alive with Joy and destiny

Cause you're restoring me piece by piece

Listening to this I was taken back to something I read a long time ago in Ezekiel.  It's in chapter 37 and it's the story of the valley of dry bones.  Ezekiel writes that the hand of the Lord was upon him and that he brought him out by the spirit.  He looks around and he sees  himself set in the middle of a valley, full of bones.  I know I've felt like I'm in that valley... but instead of just seeing it... I felt like I was the bones.  I was there in shambles.  So God asks him, "Can these bones live?"  His response... only you know Lord.  He commands him to prophesy to the bones! he said to him to say to the bones, "Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!.... I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life.  Then you will know that I am the Lord."  

So, where are you right now?  Are you in a valley?  Are you broken?  Shattered?  Do you feel dirty? Unworthy?  Maybe you feel like there's no life left in you... like you're a pile of bones with no breath left in you?  

This passage goes on to say... "So I prophesied as I was commanded.  And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them... "

Can you imagine this?  God showing this to you?  I don't know about you but as I read this, I'm filled with an unimaginable hope!  A hope that tells me one thing... MY GOD CAN DO ANYTHING!!!!!!  There is nothing that could be too great!  This God, this is the God who can reach you in your valley!  He can over come any mountain or any hill that placed you there!  HE can put you back together, he can heal the hurt that's in your heart, He can clean the dirtiest part of you... NO MATTER THE CAUSE of why you feel dirty!  He can breathe life into you and make you whole again!  

So... I leave to you today.... The encouraging word that began my journey today with Papa God... 

May the Lord's mercy make you feel like a new person today, 

ready to face everything that comes your way with a heavenly perspective