Day 6: Refreshing in the Valley

There's this beautiful verse tucked away in Psalm 84 that says, "When they walk through the Valley of Baca (Weeping), it will become a place of refreshing springs." This is a wonderful picture of what successfully walking through disappointment can look like. We all know older people who have become grouchy in their life, and we all know those who have endured tragedy and yet maintain a sweet and tender disposition toward the Lord.

It is so easy to take our disappointment and our season of seemingly unanswered prayers and become bitter in our valley, wasting our time wishing for someone else's life or only focusing on what we don't have. But verses like this one in Psalm 84 encourage us that much beauty isto be acquired even in the valley.

One of my prayers, as we walked through Jane's early stages of her epilepsy diagnosis, was, "Lord, please don't let me waste a minute of what you're teaching us in this season." We could easily accept our reality while keeping our heads down and our eyes shut to the joy and opportunities around us. If we do that, we will emerge 20 years later and realize we have learned nothing and made no impact! Or we can be active in our waiting. We can search the Scriptures in the valley, "dig" for the truths God wants us to hear, seek counsel from those who have walked similar paths before, and emerge stronger, wiser, and more graceful than before.

The truth is God is not intimidated by valleys or droughts or dryness. He actually desires that you would thrive in them and that we would see His goodness and acquire all the richness that even the valley has to offer.

Prayer for today:

Oh God, help me not lose a moment of opportunity to distraction or despair! Help me get all I can get out of this season You are leading us through. I pray that even in this valley, we would dig deeper, grow richer and see You clearer. Help us produce beauty in this valley for us and others walking through their disappointments.

Declaration:

Even in my driest moments, there is beauty to be found. Through God’s grace, I will make this desert full of springs.