Becoming Gold

“I councel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire.” – Revelation 3:18

The last few years I have asked God to give me a verse to be my “theme” for the new year. God has always given me something. I usually write it out on an index card and pin it to my board above my kitchen sink. This year, He gave me Revelation 3:18. I didn’t want it. I battled it in my heart. No one in their right mind would want that verse to be their theme for the following year! I wrote the verse out but didn’t hang it on my board. I left it tucked away in a drawer somewhere. The last year had been hard enough. I wasn’t planning on going through any more fires in 2017.

A year ago today, I insisted to my husband that I take him to the emergency room. A few days earlier, he had been diagnosed with a concussion, but his symptoms were worsening. He felt incredibly nauseous and he was so dizzy he couldn’t even sit in a chair.

By the end of the night, we had learned that he had a stroke.

By the end of the week we were told they also discovered a mass on his thyroid. A few months later he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.

It was a long 5 months recovering from the stroke. He was off work an entire month, then worked from home a month. He then returned to modified hours for a couple months. Surgery to remove his thyroid was in July. He became so tired and it took several months to get the right balance of medication in him just so he wouldnt fall asleep driving to work. He had just told me a couple weeks ago that he was finally feeling human again. His plan to work an entire week from the office was to go into effect this week.

Tuesday we got a call from the doctor. Gabe now has colon cancer.

God was trying to prepare my heart for what He knew was about to come to us again this year. Our prayer is that they caught the cancer early and that this drama will only last a couple months. Deep inside, I know it may not be that easy. Deep inside, I fear losing my husband this time.

However, God has proven his love for me already in the last couple of days of this new journey. Scripture upon scripture has literally flooded my mind.

“In the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my soul.” – Psalm 94:19

He has comforted me, and my soul truly is delighted. That He would speak to ME and love ME enough to comfort me each day blows my mind. Even in this new trial.

My husband begins testing next week. I will be sitting in waiting rooms again, finding friends and family to help out with my kids. I dread this path. But I have a comfort in the fact that God already knows what is ahead for my husband. He is there already. Because we are following Him.

“But He knoweth the way that I take; when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” – Job 23:16

Finding Joy In The Valley

When we find ourselves in a valley it is easy to lose sight on JOY. I remember days when I would weep because I truly believed I would never be happy again. I thought I couldn’t experience joy while in the valley. Joy was only if you managed to survive the valley.

I am so thankful for God’s Word! It was while I was reading through the Psalms in my own dark valley,  that I discovered a very precious promise.

“Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” – Psalms 16:11

After reading that verse over a few hundred times I began to realize I could experience joy no matter what I was going through in my life. Not just a little happiness,  but real,  FULL joy! Pleasures, too!

If you are waiting for life to “calm down” or “get better” to have that fullness of Joy, then you will never find Joy.

How do I find Joy while in a valley?

#1 Find God’s Presence.

If you don’t have a relationship with God,  start working on it.  Make reading your Bible and praying a matter of daily importance!

Make sure you are in a church that not only preaches the Word of God, but worships God! Sing your heart out during song service.

If we wait until we are “feeling better” or for our lives to “slow down” to commit to a real relationship with God, we will never have a relationship with God.

#2 Minister to others.

Find a way to minister in your church.  Join the nursery worker team.  Ask to help in Sunday school, join the choir,  go on visitation.  Ask your pastors wife where she might need an extra helping hand.

You can also minister outside of church. Pass out some gospel tracts while at the store or gas station.  Write get well cards to sick church members.  Make a meal for your neighbor who has been sick.

If we wait until our lives are “calmed down” to start ministering to others,  we never will minister to others.  (Notice what I’m doing here? )

#3 Be humble.

There is just something about those valley’s, though.  They can put you on your face and humble you.  God can reveal to you what you really are when you are in a valley.

“Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:  And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”- Psalms 139:23‭-‬24

This verse should be our daily prayer.  When there is something (sin) between us and God, our relationship with Him suffers.

The more we focus on God and others and the less we focus on ourselves, the more we can find ourselves in the presence of God.

#4 Thank God for the valley.

God loves to hear us worship Him,  especially in our valley’s.  He loves to hear us thank Him for those hard times in our lives.  He wants to know that we trust Him even when the sky is so dark we can’t see the path right in front of us. If we keep holding His hand when we are at our weakest,  It is then we are strongest!

“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” – 2 Corinthians 12:9‭-‬10