Lessons from the Valley

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Psalm 23:4 (NIV)

I confess there have been times when I’ve thought how different life could be if I had taken a different voyage. But then I look at the treasures I’ve accumulated along the way—the lessons God has taught me and the gifts that He has placed in my life during the journey:

• The revelations that have magnified God in my life.
• The blessings that have defined the quality and content of my praise.
• The losses that have proven life does move on, and things do turn around, and God does heal the hurt, and He can open doors, and the mind can be transformed.

I can’t regret anything in my life—the pains, the pitfalls, the vices—that has led me to these lessons. Not one day of it do I regret. Not one minute of it. Not one scar that is generated from it. Not one limp that I have to bear as a result of it. Because no matter how many failed expeditions and voyages I have had to manage, I’ve picked up some valuable treasures along the way.  

I’ve learned that God answers prayer, that He can bring us back from excessively dark places, that He can turn things around, that He can take the worst of human experiences and use them for the best of what He’s trying to extract from us, that He can take us to places as dark as the valley of the shadow of death and teach us that we don’t have to fear any evil because His rod and His staff will comfort us. And right there, He’ll provide a place for us so that we can say, “Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.”

Don’t you dare regret any of your pains or your hurts or your failures or your voyages that seemed to accomplish nothing. And even when you think you’ve reached a dead end, know that it’s not a dead end. It’s exactly where God intends for you to be so that you can collect the valuable lessons He wants to teach you. There is treasure to be found in the valleys of life!