“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
Psalm 23:4
The valley of the shadow.
Valleys are hard to go through, aren’t they? Especially when the one you’re going through feels much longer and harder than other difficult seasons you’ve walked through. I recently went through a hard season while preparing to move to a new place. A busy schedule, challenging relational issues, and other factors heaped together and made for several very discouraging weeks in which every day was more difficult than the one before.
Valleys are certainly challenging, and we can rarely see our way out of them while we are in them. It encouraged me to remember that it was just that, a valley. I had been through plenty of them before. I knew that Lord had always comforted and led me through them in the past. This one would be no different. It was an opportunity to trust God and step into new places.
There are several things that have helped me find peace in the midst of troubling valleys and challenging or discouraging seasons.
Trust God. Life can really hurt sometimes. I get it! We might think that “trusting God” means ignoring what’s happening or how we feel. It doesn’t. In fact, trusting Him means we recognize the situation and the pain or grief. It also means recognizing His sovereignty and the fact that He is allowing something (ouch!) to be present in our life for a time or season. We need to trust that in the midst of the unexpected, God is still good and is still with us.
Fear no evil. Pain and hardship do not mean that God is absent. God is with us always. Nothing ever happens without Him already knowing about it. We can trust that if He allows it then He will also work it out for our good in some way. We don’t have to be afraid of what happens. The outcome may not be what we expect, but we know it will always be better on the other side.
Rest in His faithfulness. Hardship sometimes leads to worry, doubt, and fear if we aren’t careful. We worry we did something wrong. We worry that we are off track. We worry about how things will turn out. Trusting God in this season means we don’t have to worry about how or why, or even what will happen. We can continue to do what we need to do, even when it feels difficult because God has never left. Pray as often as you need to in order to give your cares to Him and experience His peace in the midst of your struggle.
Give yourself grace. Valleys are hard. We aren’t perfect people who perform perfectly. God gives us a lot of grace, and we need to give ourselves space to grow, laugh, seek, pray, and breathe when life hurts.
Psalm 23 has been influential in helping me learn to walk in peace and receive the Lord’s guidance and comfort in challenging seasons. I pray that it brings you some hope and healing as well. Every valley I’ve ever been through has, in some way or another, drawn me closer to God. I’ve experienced His comfort in the hard places, and I also noticed Him carefully guiding me and changing my direction. We have the assurance that He is always with us and working things out for our good.
Challenge/Takeaway Action: What’s weighing on your heart and mind right now? What’s the fear or doubt or situation that’s at the root of your valley? In what areas are you struggling to trust God? Rather than dwelling on all the things going wrong, look to the Lord this week and take some time to be still. Listen to how He’s leading you. Trust Him. Stay active in the little things you need to do, too. Rest in knowing He’s already with you and helping you.
