Day 12: Walking through the Valley of the Shadow of Death ( January 12)

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.  He makes me lie down in green pastures,
He leads me beside quiet waters, He refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths for His name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely Your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever!!!  Psalm 23

I can’t get that Psalm out of my mind…..Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil….

I feel like right now I am facing a thousand deaths.  The death of dreams.  What feels like the death of my future.  But what I am realizing is that I am really only facing the death of my control.  I feel like I keep taking a few steps forward and then I have to stop again and light a fire and burn the next level of my control as God is taking me to deeper and deeper places in Him.  Places where I choose to either flail about while trying to find my footing in impossibly deep waters, or I surrender to His undertow and I drown in His love again and again.  Because I am an adventurer, I feel as if I’m constantly putting myself and my heart in situations where my only choice is to drown in Him.  I’m not the thrill ride, roller coaster type, but in the spirit I am an adventurer into all things God. J  I have this deep thing inside that refuses to let me settle for the ordinary.  I don’t know why, but I am determined to live a life deeper than the masses choose to lead.  I feel a stubbornness deep down inside….a holy stubbornness.

Each time I stop to burn off my control, I discover another Ebenezer…you know?  A place where I reflect on all of the other times God has come through for me in miraculous ways.  I hear the word Ebenezer echo through my mind all throughout the day. No joke.  I am in such a sticky season that I am needing constant reminder that we WILL make it through.

Where have you found yourself today?  Are you in a hard season?  Are you in a season of ease, but feel God calling you out into something new?  Are you plowing or reaping?  I encourage you today to ask God if you are where He has called you to be.  Have you settled into the routine you are in because it’s comfortable, or the opposite, are you making life more complicated than it needs to be?  Give God an honest moment to speak His truth and reality to your heart.

He knows your heart.  He knows what walk through life will draw you nearer to Him.  He knows what will make Him your only option, deepening your love and dependence upon His voice.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.  Ecclesiastes 3:1

Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen.  He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”  I Samuel 7:12

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.  He makes me lie down in green pastures,
He leads me beside quiet waters, He refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths for His name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely Your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever!!!  Psalm 23