Mountains and Valleys
Louise Duval
LPC, LAC, CAC
10/16/2023
This Summer, I had the privilege to go on an Alaskan cruise with my husband. Not only was I going on a cruise to Alaska, but my favorite Christian artist (Steven Curtis Chapman) was on the cruise. We were supposed to go on the cruise in 2020, but it did not happen because of COVID-19, so this was the rescheduled cruise. This was a much-anticipated trip of a lifetime. While we were there, aside from Alaska, we had great worship and excellent Bible teaching, time to connect with each other, and time to connect with other Christians. I learned a lot there, but even more learning happened as we headed back home. On the day we left, we were a little sad to leave the ship but were excited to be coming back home and getting to see our girls. Little did we know that it was going to be a much longer adventure than we anticipated. To make a long story short, after multiple delays and gate changes, our original flight back home got canceled and we ended up spending over 24 hours in the airport and visiting every terminal there. Despite all that, it did not erase the fun we had.
As I reflect on the experience, I think of a song by Steven Curtis Chapman that he sang on the cruise. The song is called The Mountain. If you do not know the song, I encourage you to listen here: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTz6N2QgoMk). Life is full of mountains and valleys. Where are you today? Are you on a mountain, a valley, or somewhere in between? God allowed me to go on this cruise. While we were there, we saw the beauty of God through His creation, in music, in worship, in fellowship with other believers, and through looking at His word. That was a time of being on the mountain. A time of refreshing and reviving, a gift from God, but God did not allow us to stay there. That mountain was to prepare me to go back into the world. For me, it was definitely a very abrupt move from the mountain to the valley, but God was with me the whole way, and we did eventually make it home safely with all of our beautiful memories and truths we learned. As the song says, one day, if Jesus is your Savior, you will go to live up on the mountain with Him forever, but until then, we will go through mountains and valleys. If you are on a mountain now, rest in the Lord and thank Him for His goodness. Ask Him what He wants you to learn, draw close to Him, and allow Him to prepare you for your next valley. If you are in a valley, know that even if you can’t feel it right now, God is with you. He never leaves us, and He teaches in the valleys too. Sometimes, when you are in the valley, you just want to get out but fight the temptation to ask God to remove you and ask Him instead to show you His love and teach you about Himself. Stay close to God during these times, and if you need Him to carry you, ask Him to. One day, you will no longer be in the valley and will be able to see how you grew there, and then you get to enjoy the mountain. Just as I eventually made it home safely with wonderful memories and truths I learned, one day, you will be out of the valley, and God may use you to help someone in the same valley. The good thing about the mountains and valleys is that the God of Heaven and Earth promises to walk through them with you if you allow Him to. He always makes the mountains even more beautiful and the valleys more bearable.