Down in the Valley, the Valley so Low

What precisely is a valley? One definition: Low area of land between hills or mountains, typically a river or stream flows through it.

It is a popular theme in poetry. The poet Theodore Roethke wrote,
"Over every mountain there is a path although it may not be seen from the valley."

Former President Richard Nixon said,
"Only if you have been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be at the top."

We all have valleys in our lives. Depression is kind of like a life of valley living. Once, while I was living in Colorado in my twenties I was driving home one night. I felt such despair. I could not remember a single happy event in my life. Now I assure you I had happy events but the darkness of depression covered everything good.

Years later in my 30's I suffered post partum depression after the birth of my second child. My marriage was failing and we had big financial issues. Each day as I drove home from work it required superhuman effort on my part to drive past the bridge abutment without deliberately crashing into it a full speed. I was in such bad shape that my parents and grandparents came to stay for awhile.

According to Pastor Spencer Miller valleys are a route to our own personal promised land. There is no alternate route. Our spiritual lives can have mountain peaks and low periods. Remember when you were first saved, the emotional high you might have had? When you see answers to long and earnest prayer, when a loved one comes to Jesus the great clouds of happiness we ride!

Then there are the spiritual low points. Bereavements, failures, giving into temptation, neglecting prayer and bible study.
"When walking through the valley of shadows remember a shadow is cast by a Light" Austin O'Malley.

Ultimately suffering ends in victory and a growth in authority. Many people in the bible experienced lows and cried out to God. David, Job, Jonah, and even Jesus.

The last time I had a period of blackness - due to s suicide, a foreclosure and other misfortune I immediately started praying. I prayed while I showered, while I hulled strawberries, while I weeded peas or washed dishes. I was able to skirt around the black hole, not quit paddling as I swam through a sea of muck.

So how can we prevent these lows in life? I am not sure this is preventable. Just like a cold, bad times must be endured. We can be comforted by our faith.

In Psalm 22 David is under great duress and cries out 
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" but in Psalm 23 which I am guessing many of you know by heart, he realizes that no matter what evil befalls him God is always with him. He vows he will dwell with the Lord forever.

I want to leave you with this comfort in Psalm 46:1-3
"God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble, therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea , though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.

Today my prayers are focused on Sarah and her family as she is facing a recurrence of cancer, for Penny and Pam as they made the decision to call in hospice for their mother, for my fathers significant other and her family as they grieve his loss. Many others of you remain in my daily prayers.