Mountains High and Valleys Low

If At First You Don't Succeed, Parachuting is NOT for YOU

About 3 or 4 years ago I was called to a job. It was one of those things that makes you shake in your boots and the calling is so strong that it haunts your every step and keeps you awake at night. It was the reason why I got the degree I got in college and my entire life's work was to prepare my heart for that job. The problem was that someone else had that job. It didn't take long, however, for that position to open up by a chain of events that even I would never have predicted. I prayed about it and the calling made my heart so restless that I was barely able to sleep on it before I was asking around about the position and put my application in for it. The next thing I knew, I found myself in an interview with a very jet lagged individual. A week or two later I found out that I didn't get chosen for the position. It was the first and only job that I ever interviewed for and didn't get hired. Another lady was hired. She lasted almost a year. Another man was hired, his stay didn't last long either. Eventually, Steve lost his job and we were uprooted from our home and our church family and I began my journey through Egypt. It was such a strange and devastating feeling to be called somewhere, to know without a doubt that I was supposed to be in that specific place and that specific time and to find myself on a completely different journey altogether. My point to all of this?
Isaiah 40:3-5 states: "A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight and the rough ways smooth. And all mankind will see God's salvation."
We all have valleys in our lives. My valley has been a 2-3 year journey of knowing that I must give up my housewife status and get a job. My valley started with a calling to do something that I feel very passionately about and having to sit back at watch people less passionate lose precious opportunity. My valley continued into Egypt where I moved away from everyone I knew and loved, got a job in a completely different universe where worked for someone who only saw the worst in me. She spent an entire year trying to ruin my professional record, accused me of things I would never dream of doing, and spread her lies and slander to everyone she knew. The entire time I walked through the valley, sometimes so weary I prayed morning would never come, but knowing that my hope would be found in God and God alone. God put people in my life who cheered me on from the sidelines. He carried my burdens for me and somehow, the darkness parted and I made it through. Part of making my paths straight is filling in those valleys of pain; to stop asking why, and to fall on my knees and THANK Him not only for carrying me through that valley, but for blessing me with a new job where I have an amazing boss, awesome co-workers and a class that couldn't be better. This is a new year and it's time to rid ourselves of our valleys, to let go of the pain and burdens of the past and move on. Only God can do that for us. This past Sunday my pastor mentioned that our spiritual lives were so much more important than shedding those last few pounds. Shouldn't people be lined up at the doors of our churches instead of filling up 24 Hour Fitness with goals that will never last?