Valley's- February Newsletter Article

If you know me, you know that I bleed Cream and Crimson...I love IU basketball.  Last  season they went 6 and 25.  They won 6 games and lost 25 games.  I taped every one and watched it.  Every second.  That season taught me a few things about valleys and anger management and ulcers but those other two things won't make for a good article. 

    1.One things I learned was, you sometimes hit valleys because of unforeseen things.  Someone else does something to you or someone you love, the stock market crashes, other peoples decisions have an impact on your life, or maybe it is just something random that happened by no one's fault.  It just happened.

    2.  Secondly, often times you go through valleys because you are missing the signs or ignoring them in your own life.  How many times in life are we given warning signs along side the road of life that we just flat out ignore?  How many times has someone said a wise word or given us sound advice and we just ignored it and went ahead with whatever we wanted to do?  God said that if we are lacking wisdom to ask for it and He will give it to us! 


    3.  Three, I hate losing at anything.  I hate losing and the way it makes you feel.  My kids are in for a real treat.  They will have to earn their wins when playing Chutes and Ladders or Checkers or Candyland!  I think as Christians we have become so apathetic towards things that when we start to "lose" a battle in life we start "woe is me-ing."  We are more than conquerors!  When evils wins out in the present, we know that in end the victory is with the Lord.  Don't give in or give up...trust that God has placed you in this season for some reason.  Trust that wherever you go, He will be there. 

    4.  Fourth, doing the right things in valley will help you grow and potentially get out of that valley or those things will help you be content while you are in the valley.  Their season made me be thankful for each win they had but in life it helped me savor each "win" that I experienced too.  Isn't it the case that when things are not going very good we rarely acknowledge the good things when they do happen?  We need to learn to take the "wins" in life when and where we can.  Jesus said that this life will be full of hard times and people will not like us and attack us and discourage us.  But I think our attitude and demeanor are a product of our reactions rather than others actions. 

When those hard times hit we must keep the faith, literally.  We must stay close to Christ and to His Word and His promises.  We must as John Vermilya put it at Love Mercy, "Put down our oars and put up our sails!"  We can't do this on our own and when we try, we often times create our own valleys and our own times of discouragement.