Our Door of Hope

I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. Here I will give her back her vineyards and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will respond [sing] as in the days of her youth... Hosea 3:14-15

When I look back at my young adult days when I met Bruce, sweet images come to mind. I saw my life fitting right into his and the dreams of shared love and happiness seemed within reach. Careers were built, and babies were raised. Relational vineyards were planted, and the yield was plentiful. But with every life…every heart… every journey comes a Valley of Achor. The word Achor means muddy or turbid and some translations refer to it as calamity that turns into blessing. It is a valley that troubles us while in it, but eventually turns into joy and despair into hope.

There have times where I created my own valley of trouble. When I turned to spending to satisfy my soul and replace what God could offer with what the stores offered. In the valley are many lies that keep us there longer than we were ever meant to reside. The valley will echo that God is holding out on us, so we must go and take hold of something else. The mist will always settle in the valley obstructing our view of our future blessings and His faithfulness. God warns us about this because He sees the valley in our hearts before we ever take action upon it. But God doesn’t leave us there to fend for ourselves. He walks beside us in our trouble and helps us trample through the muddy land. As the valley tempts us to believe our lives are out of control God speaks tenderly to us dispelling the fears. The answer for turning our calamities into blessings and despair into joy is by opening our hearts so God can heal them. God doesn’t lead us into the wilderness without leaving a beautiful song of testimony in our hearts.

The Faithful by Jennifer Rothschild reminded me this morning that ‘Sterling silver shines and then tarnishes’ p. 122. We say, ‘I do’ and then we say, ‘What have I done?’ If you are in a valley where a promise has turned into a problem, and triumph in one season has turned into trouble in this season, take heart and have hope. When we participate with God’s heart work in the valley , He responds with certain promises and hope. ‘I’ll take the lowest point in your life, the time of spoiled potential, dashed hopes, and greatest shame, and I’ll turn that into a honeymoon of new beginnings’, p. 122.

Don’t get distracted by your troubles, for your greatest beginning might be on the horizon.