Stepping Back for a Moment

In the midst of all God has been teaching me and I have been sharing with you as we travel together with the Israelites, Moses, and God through the Exodus I must step back for a moment to share something I have experienced over the last 3 or 4 months. Maybe understanding where I am. . .the point I have come to in my valley experience will help you - valley experiencer and flock alike.

Allow me to preface my experience with a verse from Paul - a man who experienced incredible valleys in his own right. In his letter to the Philippian church Paul writes. . .

. . .for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. (Phil 4:11-12)

I don't know if you got that or not. Read it again. . .again. . .and again. Did you notice it? Paul wrote that he learned to be content in any and every situation. It didn't matter what he experienced, what he went through, what happed to him, he learned to be content. Contentment doesn't come easy for us and I don't think it came easy for Paul easy, that's why he wrote that he learned to be content.

In my valley I have come to a point where I have learned to be content. I've always wondered what that would feel like and would I ever expereince it in my valley. Well. . .I have and I am. I don't now if I can put into words how it feels, but it's like I know everyhing is OK and everything will be OK. It's like finally feeling the hand of God when I couldn't feel anything for so long, but I knew it was there. I believed, I trusted, I kept moving forward - some days were great strides, other days were no more than baby steps. It's like an assurance that God is with me. It's also become something I recognize as experiential. In other words you know contentment by experience. There's no other way!

Maybe this helps explain why I write more than I used to. Maybe it helps explain why I am enjoying going home and just hanging out a lot more than I used to. Maybe it explains why my demeanor is more pleasant. . .more positive. Maybe it explains why I'm loving what I'm doing so much more. Maybe. . .it explains the peace I feel when I get up in the morning, while I'm going about my day, or heading home to the animals.

So how do you learn to be content? I think it comes when you truly, I mean truly surrender everything to God. It comes when, like Paul, you lay your life, your troubles, your worries, your circumstances, your heart down before the God who loves and cares for you more than anyone you will ever meet on this strange, strange planet.

Having trouble finding contentment? Let me encourage you - flock and valley experiencer, alike - find your life in Christ - not in your circumstances, not in your situation, not in your expectations, not in your way of thinking, not in the expectations, wishes, and dreams of others - ONLY in Christ. It will probably be the hardest lesson you will learn and definitely the most difficult to put into practice. But as sure as I know there is a God in heaven, I know that if you will come to the place in your journey where nothing and nobody else matters, nothing but the wonderful presence of God, you, too, will learn what it means to be content.

There will be a smile that comes from deep inside you that may have been missing for a while. There will be a peace that overcomes any circumstance. There will be laughter where there used to be pain. There will be passion where there used to be wishes and desires.

So. . .let met just say that contentment is real! It's there, waiting for you to experience it. . .to discover it.

I'm not sure how to wrap this up. I know I need to, but I could go on and on. So, let me just say this, "It's out there, but it's up to you and me to discover it. To discover it we have to lay everything at the feet of our Heavenly Father." So get to layin' it down. He's waiting.

Mike