My help comes from the Lord!

As you can imagine, the past four months haven't been easy--not one day has passed where I didn't wish things were different-that Keith were home, or that he wasn't even IN the Army at all.  However, I realized every day that I doubt or complain, is a day I miss out on praising God for His marvelous plan. Throughout the Bible it says that God's purpose is sovereign and that he has our best interests in mind, so why do I let myself mope around about being apart from the one I love, when I know that God is behind each and every situation?  I guess it's because I am human, fallen, and prone to sin.

Over the past few weeks, God has really been ministering to my heart about the hard times in life.  Growing up, I always heard about "the peaks and the valleys" of your walk with the Lord, and yet I hadn't really experienced any valleys--I spent quite a bit of time on the peaks, I guess you could say.  However, with this deployment (my first real valley), I'd say God is definitely teaching me about a different aspect of following Him.  

It's easy to follow the Lord when you are a valley-life is grand, you don't have any REAL struggles or conflicts, and praising Him for your daily bread seems to come naturally.  However, in the valley-things all around you look dreary, there is much to complain about, and your blessings seem to fade into the distance in the shadow of all of the TERRIBLE things you are going through.  But, alas--there is our Savior, right there beside you in the trenches saying "Call on ME, ask ME for help" because Christ himself has been in that same valley.  As the psalmist said so beautifully "I lift my eyes to the hills, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, maker of Heaven and Earth."  God has really been hammering this verse into my heart.  First of all, when you are in the valleys, all you want to do is look up to the hills--where you want to be (the peaks).  It seems like the time in the valley goes by so slowly.  But when we look up to the hills, there is God offering his help-help to bring us OUT of the valley and onto the peak.  What an amazing truth-the psalmist doesn't say our help comes from friends, or family, or even our spouse--but when we are in the valley, we must lift our eyes to the HILLS and see the LORD there, and ask HIM for help.  

This truth has blessed me over the last few months as I grow each day and learn more and more how to depend on God and not on myself--it's Him that will take me out of this valley, or perhaps, see me through this valley.