I’ve been hearing the Lord say, “Get ready to put into practice all that you have learned.” You’ve spent hours of your life poring over numerous books, listening to the latest sermons and podcasts, and growing in knowledge. You’ve had years of training; trials that were meant to teach you, victories that felt amazing, and small acts of obedience that paved your way to this point, but now is the time when you will be thrown into the ring, so to speak, into a valley season, and given the opportunity to use all the knowledge and training you have acquired. How will you respond when everything seems to be stripped from you, and you find yourself in an unrecognizable place, the feeling of loneliness surrounding you? Will you crumble, or will you bring to remembrance all the Lord had taught you in your previous seasons and rely on your training?

 “For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but it is the doers of the law who will be declared righteous,” Romans 2:13.

“Be doers of the Word and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves,” James 1:22.

During your time in the valley, you will receive a new revelation of the goodness, faithfulness, and love of God. By going through trials and tribulations, we are able to witness firsthand the Lord’s beautiful nature, and we are given the ability to see Him at work. Without trouble, how would we recognize His ability and faithfulness to deliver us?

“Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him from them all,” (Psalm 34:19).  

“Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear,” (Isaiah 59:1).

Think back to all He’s taught you over the years. Remember the victories. Remember how He delivered you from your previous afflictions. Pay close attention to what’s going on around you, and ask the Holy Spirit to bring back to your remembrance how to deal with each situation you encounter. Sometimes it’s difficult to remember which weapon to use when you’re in the thick of the battle. That’s where our helper, the Holy Spirit comes in. Holy Spirit may bring to mind things you need to stand up against, Scriptures you need to meditate on, or things you may need to renounce or cast down. You may need to change your attitude or perspective on the situation, or you may find you need to extend forgiveness to someone. The Lord may also remind you to speak to the mountain you’re facing and cast it into the sea, as He did with me.

“’Have faith in God,’ Jesus said to them. Truly I tell you that if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and has no doubt in his heart but believes that it will happen, it will be done for him,’” (Mark 11:22-23).

In my life, I’ve always seemed to go through things first before I write about them, and before others in my life encounter the same situations or obstacles. In this case, I’ve spent two whole years navigating the Valley of the Shadow of Death. I’ve written a short poem on the Valley that you can find here – The Valley of the Shadows | The Navigator . My valley experience has consisted of a miscarriage, leaving my church and church family, carrying out assignments the Lord has asked of me that looked completely crazy to those around me, renouncing faulty mindsets, 2 sinus surgeries, a staph infection, smoke alarms going off in the dead of the night twice which left my son terrified and sleeping in the hallway for over 2 weeks, major anxiety, and a minor bout of depression because I wasn’t handling things as well as I should have. Though I know how to fight these battles, I briefly forgot some of the things the Lord had taught me and I laid down my spiritual weapons.

One night I had a dream where the Lord showed me, I was about to face something He had been preparing me for. He said I was fully trained to overcome the obstacle I was about to face, and then He unleashed it on me. We know the enemy can do nothing without running his plans past God first, so in other words, God allowed it. It was not because He’s a mean, unloving Father, but because He IS a loving Father who trains up His children in the way that they should go. He prepares us and strengthens us in such a way that when situations arise in our lives, we’re able to stay standing and get through them unscathed, and sometimes without even flinching. It becomes easier to go through the trials and tribulations, and it becomes easier to retain our joy in the midst of them because we’ve seen how He’s stood with us, and delivered us from all our troubles.

“You have delivered me from all my troubles, and my eyes have looked in triumph on my foes,” (Psalm 54:7 NIV).

Not only do we gain an understanding of where we’re at spiritually, and the areas in our lives that need shoring up, but the Father is revealed to us in a greater way and He becomes more real to us. Going through trials and tribulations reveal His faithfulness, His love, His goodness, and the fact that no matter what we go through, He is right there with us, walking with us, talking with us, and comforting us along the way.

I’ve referred a couple times to the Lord throwing us into the ring, and training us. This is because I am picturing a boxer preparing for a round in the boxing ring. We’re going to come up against the enemy, no doubt, but if we’re not trained in how overcome him, or how to retain our strength and energy during the battle, we’ll get skunked. The Lord never leaves us to our own devices; He always prepares us for whatever we’re about to come up against. The thing is, if we sweep all our knowledge under the rug and decide to just hunker down and cry, we give ourselves over to defeat.

I would like to throw in right here that we have already been given the victory over the enemy through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As born-again believers, we are now seated in heavenly places with Christ, and we are more than conquerors (Romans 8:37). Our fight is not against flesh and blood, so we use supernatural weapons (the Word of God) when we’re up against the enemy. Resting in the finished works of Jesus is the way we retain our strength and energy, which gives us the ability to keep going, no matter what is thrown at us.

In my valley experience, I had to be reminded that I could speak to the mountain in front of me, and cast it into the sea. I spoke to the mountain of infection and suddenly things started to shift. There was a long stretch where I didn’t know where to go. It felt as if I was completely lost and without direction. In that moment I had to remind myself that God knows exactly where I am, and that if I haven’t received any clear direction from Him, then I need to wait on Him; it would be dangerous for me to run out ahead of Him and go in whichever direction I thought would make me feel better. It was important for me to continue going in the direction He first spoke to me until I received new marching orders. I continued asking the Holy Spirit to lead me to where I needed to be, while continuing to slowly move forward.

There were times I missed the signs that He set out for me, but that didn’t prevent Him from leading me to where I needed to be.  I see now that He was speaking to me, but I wasn’t paying attention. It wasn’t that I was ignoring Him on purpose – I was just allowing myself to have a pity party, and choosing to let my hurt and discomfort rule my life for a time. When we’re self-focused, we can’t see God. Let me say that again. When we’re self-focused, we cannot see God. Our eyes are on ourselves, on how we feel, on what we can do to make ourselves feel better etc. When we begin to feel discouraged and defeated, it’s because we’ve taken our eyes off from God, and put the focus on ourselves.

I want to finish this off by encouraging you. No matter how dark things look, no matter how alone you may feel in a valley season, God is always right there with you. He hasn’t left you, nor will He. The valley is an uncomfortable place to be in, but keep trusting Him. Keep seeking Him and spending time with Him. You will eventually begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel if you don’t give up.

Father God,

I ask that you will enable each and every person who is going through the valley, or who is about to go through the valley, to keep going all the way to the other side. I pray their focus will remain on you, and that their eyes will not be drawn to the darkness that surrounds them, but on the light that you provide in front of them. Enable them to keep moving forward, avoiding all the traps and pitfalls of the enemy, and enable them to remain at rest in you. Holy Spirit, bring to remembrance the teaching and training you’ve provided to each and every individual, that they may be doers of your Word and not just hearers.

In Jesus’s Name, Amen.