Hope

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,"

-Psalm 23:4

For the last 6 years up to September 4, 2006, its safe to say Brandi and I have been through the valley of the shadow of death, at least from our perspective. Now, we have a new perspective. We're on the other side of that season of our lives.

Then, not much looked good, there wasn't much hope. At times, there was barely enough, just enough to keep our heads above the water. But now, we're on the other side of that.



Now, we know that there can't be a valley if there isn't a mountain top. The mountain top is where we want to be. But, sometimes when we go through trials, the failures weigh us down and after a while, we stop looking up at the mountain top. We lose hope. We're too disappointed, tired, beat down and depressed to even lift up our heads and see the mountain top. While we have made it through that trial in our lives, we want to encourage anyone who's in the valley right now to remember, there is a mountain top. That's where God wants to bring us. Remember as believers, we always have hope. We're pretty sure we'll see another valley. But next time, we'll be reminded of how He brought us out of the valley and to the mountain top.



What about the 'shadow of death?' Again, we're on the other side and we've learned some things. We've learned that a shadow is similar to the absence of The Light. The Light is there, the shadow PROVES The Light is there. There is only something partially BLOCKING the light. We've learned that The Light is Jesus. Next time, we will remeber that the shadow is actually PROOF that The Light is there. That will bring us hope.