Yesterday after I spent some time in the Word, my kids were still sleeping so I decided to listen to some worship music.

Our church actually just hired a new worship leader, and so I opened up the songs I had downloaded of his… and this is the one I listened to.

It spoke volumes to me yesterday morning, and the Lord knew that I needed it in particular.

My favorite part is at the beginning when he sings…

“Up on the mountain, down in the valley low.. you have my heart”

As Christians, we often refer to the amazing times in our walks with Jesus as “mountaintop” experiences.  This conveys the feeling we have when we come closer to the majesty of the Lord.

The next part of the song says,

“You will lead my over the mountain, through the valley to Your fountains that never run dry”

Yes, the mountaintop is where we may feel the straight-up power of the Lord, but the valley… through the valley… THAT is where the fountain is.

And I need to be there, at the fountain.

That’s where I find peace,

that’s where I am able to rest in the Lord,

it’s where He teaches me what it looks like to follow Him… in ALL circumstances.

This coincides with some reading I have been doing in Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster about Solitude and “The Dark Night of the Soul”.

Foster points out

“To take seriously the Discipline of solitude will mean that at some point or points along the pilgrimage we will enter what St. John of the Cross vividly describes as “the dark night of the soul”.  The “dark night” to which he calls us is not something bad or destructive.  On the contrary, it is an experience to be welcomed much as a sick person might welcome a surgery that promises health and well-being.  The purpose of the darkness is not to punish or to afflict us.  it is to set us free.  It is a divine appointment, a privileged opportunity to draw close to the divine Center. “

In my experience, this “dark night” time… a time where spiritually I have felt dry, or like I just wasn’t as close to the Lord always seem to come after particularly powerful times in my walk.

The “valley” after the “mountaintop”.

And, honestly, it’s where I’m at now.

Yesterday this song reaffirmed the fact that this time in my walk is not anything other than the Lord taking my hand, and walking me through the valley to the fountain.

All I have to do is…

A:  recognize it (so that I continue to persevere in drawing close to God daily) 

and

B:  welcome it (knowing that there is a good purpose for this time in the valley… that the Lord is using this time to speak gently to me & form my character to be more like His and ultimately to bring freedom to my life.)

Lord, let it be so!!