I have found there is more to life than awaiting the next mountaintop, there is actually available to us, joy in the valley.
We have heard the scripture Paul wrote about being content in every circumstance one hundred times over, we have read the accounts of the disciples singing in prison, we believed it was true. What I didn’t realize was how that same supernatural power is available to us in this moment. Until, God allowed me to face some real raw valleys, some all time lows. When we experienced our first loss in pregnancy, when we faced great financial need, when we recently struggled to overcome health challenges, physical suffering, and transitioned church communities. These were real valleys, real raw moments of heartache. Each time that I have really suffered, truly mourned, each time I wept the loss and the disappointment, I immediately took my brokenness to the feet of my father, and his Spirit comforted and encouraged me in unspeakable ways. I didn’t know such joy was available during such heartache, but it is real. I have sang in prison, I danced in the valley. Not because I am anything special, but because I have chosen to allow the joy of the Spirit to be mine, I have marked it as my own.
We will have rare opportunities to choose joy in tragedy, but more often, our daily struggle to choose joy is found in the slight details. I am learning, slow and hard, that as Paul says, it is less about my circumstances, and more about my focus. Choosing every hour to refocus on Christ, and allowing that supernatural love to permeate every layer of earthly mess, will reveal and unleash victorious, rock solid, champion joy.
The more daily battles we choose to overcome with joy, the stronger we will be when tragedy strikes, our natural default instinct will be: joy. In those moments, as the world watches you dance in the valley, God receives all the glory.
Dont be mistaken, the Lord is not a motivational hard head offering us joy as a recommendation to “get over it” or “cowboy up”. He is a gracious kind and loving God, he offers joy for our benefit, as an option other than suffering.
It’s not required, there is a time for everything, as in Ecclesiastes, even a time to mourn. But even in that mourning, the offer stands, if you want it. This everlasting joy, the kind that endures, withstands, remains. Even in the valley. Thats why we keep dancing.
homestead heart 