Hi Pearls for Pigs Blog Family,
It has been a while since I’ve blogged. Not because I haven’t desired to, but because for the past year and a half I have been trying to balance my life, after losing my husband to bladder cancer in 2016.
Having fought cancer with my husband for almost every year of my seven-year marriage, I realize what it is to be in the valley. As a Christian, the term “valley” is a common one, it usually describes some kind of trial, and a word read throughout the Bible. However, no one really embraces it while in the mist of it.
Yet, if you are in the valley today, I want to encourage you that there is good news! Although things are rough now, you are in a good place because in the valley God is close!
Yes, you read that correctly. I’ll rewrite it, “in the valley, God is close!”
Even more so, you have a lot to look forward to! Why do I believe that, you ask? Because the Bible gives many examples of the benefits of the valley and the process of RESTORATION!
Yes! You, my friend, are going through to be brought into your GREATER! Look at Hosea chapter 2.
God considered Israel to be adulterous, putting all of their faith in everything, but Him. Are you guilty of that? Living the good life, and then forgetting about God until the trial comes?
God told the prophet Hosea that the Israelites were putting on their earrings and jewelry getting dressed up for their lovers, but forgetting about Him (Hosea 2:13).
Wow! How often do we do this? We give everything and everyone our time, but God. Forgetting who our source and prosperity truly comes from.
But even though the Israelites were guilty of this, God allowed them to go through a wilderness season. He called it the Valley of Achor (trouble) to restore them back to Him.
“Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and bring her into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her.
And there I will give her her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.”
God brought them to, not to condemn them, but to give them hope. A hope that can’t be denied, and can’t be satisfied by any other gods we put before the one and only true God.
In the valley we may lose our hope, joy, provision, and become unfruitful from all the grieve we feel, but one thing is for certain God’s mercy endures forever!
If you are in a rough place right now, God is still with you. He’s close…comforting you and trying to restore you to right relationship with Him so that you may prosper and grow from this experience.
Yes, it may be painful and almost unbearable. Believe me I know, but there should be a comfort in knowing that God has good plans for you. Plans to restore you, to help you, to give you a new joy, provide for you, and give you more than you could have ever imagined both physically and spiritually.
God is not done with you yet, and you will be the last one laughing! I look forward to encouraging you more and writing again.
With Love!
Pearls For Pigs 