Out of the Valley

Hello (Hello)(Hello).

That is the echo of my voice calling out. Are you still there? Am I still here? I know, at least, I am not where I once was.

Have you ever been through something really, really cool with God and then been sent down the hill into the valley?

You know - like you witness your child doing something wonderful and kind and full of His Spirit and share that news with someone, only to turn around and find them swinging from the chandeliers in their underwear screaming about how you are loser and how much they hate you??

Or - you go through a totally God-breathed event like the aforementioned VBS only to find that while you were focused on doing God's Thing God's Way, the enemy was marking the lines of the battlefield? (And then you realize that the battlefield was EVERYwhere?)

Fun stuff. NOT!!

Coming out of VBS my home was attacked (as if the prior issues with l-o-w-e-s were not enough - they only got worse and "still" aren't finished).
Coming out of VBS my financial world was attacked (and is slowly making it's way out of the deep and darkness).
Coming out of VBS my personal relationships were attacked (bruised and battered in emotions and spirit).
Coming out of VBS (praise the Lord) I didn't give up.

But oh this weekend, "I Quit!!"

I quit accepting what was set before me as it had been. I quit accepting the damage being done and at one time I literally stood eye-to-eye with evil and demanded that "it" leave. Leave my children alone, leave my husband alone, leave me alone.

But - I have to say - it wasn't until I realized that the only "safe place" I had was at my place of employment - my church. Funny? Nah - he knows there is no place for him there. It was only when I saw this that I knew what I was really up against. I even dickered with God over it - roaming the streets of my neighborhood from 11-12 in the pm/am on a Saturday night. Never doubting who God Is and never doubting His Power, I "argued" with Him over His Sovereign Right to strip away everything that I held valuable. I claimed defeat in my own ability to accomplish anything without Him, defeat in my attempts to try, defeat in my ability to go on without His intervention. My own admittance of weakness that I did not have the strength or power or will(?) to continue His Work without His Safety.

As of today, I received a financial blessing (that will have to be repaid - I'm for that) and a plan to make the finances work. My husband was offered a new job that will allow him more room for growth than the stagnant waters he had been in. My children are aware that their mother is a warrior (and are now, rightfully, afraid of what "I" can "make happen"). The familial elements causing strife and frustration now have a new found respect for the extent to which "I" am "in charge" of the goings on in Montgomery. My home issues are on the mend and the installers are even sending me a $50 gift-card to l-o-w-e-s for "all my trouble". (LOL!!!!!!!!)

It's Another Day in Montgomery (and boy has it been a long one) and I say:
Who are we without Him, but flightless birds in the valley surrounded by hungry wolves - our nests resting only on top of the highest mountain.

(Aside to B - someone told me last week, "You have a really interesting life. You should write a book." Where-oh-where are the words??)