The Valley Equips Us To Serve Him

This past weekend, I had the privilege of being at our youngest grandchild’s birthday

party. She is just turning four this week and boy did she has a blast. My daughter and

her mom arranged a formal outdoor tea party for kids aged 4-7, complete with napkins

and placemats, but served water and pop instead of tea. She wore her formal dress

for everyone to see.

As I saw the gleam in her eye, it reminded me when as a young leader, I was so excited

to just be serving Christ and being with my newfound friends. Everything was like one

giant tea party. My prayers were being answered in miraculous ways, my witness was

dynamic and unashamed and my vision and hope for the future and the ministry that

God was calling me into was compelling, until I hit a wall of discouragement and failure.

Now many years later, I can look back on that time in God’s training ground as a way of

helping me to grow in relying not so much on my giftedness or my training or my ability

to communicate, but on my wonderful Savior who wanted me to realize that leadership

is not so much about what I can do in and of myself, but its what I allow Him to do in and

through me for His Glory and His Sake.

Allow me to encourage you today, all of us will hit those times when the newness of the

party seems to be something in our real view mirror, a vague memory of a better and

happier time, but know for sure that God is still there and He is still with us even when it

seems like the party has gone dark and the days are no longer filled with fun.

The apostle Paul would say it much better than I ever could say it in writing to the

church at Corinth.

8  For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of our affliction which

occurred in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we

despaired even of life.  9  Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that

we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead, 10  who rescued us from

so great a danger of death, and will rescue us, He on whom we have set our hope. And

He will yet deliver us,  11  if you also join in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks

may be given by many persons in our behalf for the favor granted to us through the

prayers of many.