valleys

Last Sunday, I watched Dr. Charles Stanley on TV with my family. He gave a sermon about the purpose of the 'valleys' in life. The valleys are the struggles we go through. (Anything that makes us feel like there is no hope or brings us heartache or distress.)

Often, during times like this, we ask God "why me?" or "how could you let this happen?" We blame him. When really, God does have a purpose for our valleys.

When we are in the 'peaks' (the good times where we feel a sense of completeness since everything is going right) we don't realize that we can be even better.(a higher peak)

So, God gives us valleys to go through so we can get knocked down and become closer to Him. This way he can help us get back up an bring us to an even higher peak.

I hope this is making sense, I realized it's easier to understand then it is to explain. (:

The length of our valleys, depend on how long we allow ourselves to go through them without God.

He doesn't give us hardships as a way of punishment, he gives them to us because he wants to be close to us. We don't learn from the peaks, we learn from the valleys. It is there, where we grow. We have to understand that we do need God.

I really related to this sermon because even though I've had a lot of valleys in life, some of the recent ones I really benefited from. I got suspended one time, and I swear, it was the best thing that ever happened to me. Because, it was in that time where I felt really close to my Heavenly Father. The dean at my school was telling me all about him, and my dad was too, and I just really learned a lot about his Grace and about his nature. I felt amazing, because a lot of my energy was being focused on God. And I knew he was always going to be there for me.

If you are going through a valley, remember, it doesn't last forever. Ask God to help you. And you will have a happiness, better then before.