“Sometimes I think life comes at us like the swells of the ocean’s waves. When I am at the top it is then that I see so clearly for miles all around, but when I am at the bottom and the waves rise high above it is then and only then that all I see is sky.”
The other day I went to the beach and as I took a break from boogieboarding I rested on the board in the boyancy of the water, riding up one swell and then down inbetween and it was when I was inbetween that I thought of God, for God was all I could see.
Excerpts from a story I’m writing… but it makes me think of the valleys and why God allows us to walk them. Like the ocean waves I think so too our our walks with God. Sometimes we are on the mountain tops and with Him we can see for miles all around. When we are up this high it is easy to see what God is doing for nothing obstructs our view, but when we are down in the valleys there are so many things we cannot see. It reminds me of Hannah Hunnards’ “Hinds Feet on High Places,” and when she was in the valley it was so often shrouded in mist. Christ is there walking with us but we cannot see where He is leading us to. When I am in the valley He is all I see. When I am in the valley I take His hand and trust… that He is leading me.
It makes me think of a story; the story of Joseph (my all time favorite story of the bible and those of you who know me know that I talk of this story a lot.) But when I think of Joseph’s story I think, “how long did he walk it until coming out onto the mountain tops could he then see so clearly… what God was doing?”
When I am in the valley I walk, in faith and in obedience, trusting that my God has a purpose for me even there, even when I cannot see. Often His purpose and reason for the valleys are to get our eyes trained on Him for when we are there He is all we see because it is in the mist that He walks so closely.
it is nice to know that while joseph did not see the big picture until much later that he actively pursued God in what he could see in the present.
That is so true.