The Day I Fell I took a fall the other day. Not the kind of fall that sends you down with a stubbed toe or a stinging knee, but the fall that sends you down with a bruised heart and a throbbing spirit. After a few weeks of mild improvement with my health, my hopes […]
It’s another New Year! Emily and I hope you had wonderful holidays! As we start 2023, The Valley’s blog schedule will shift to posts every other week instead of weekly. We pray you will continue to be blessed by these posts and grow closer to God this year! The Struggle of Another Day I woke […]
Last week we looked at how to find grace, joy, and peace in chronic illness based on Elisabeth Elliot’s short devotional about the hymn “It Is Well With My Soul” by Horatio G. Spafford: by receiving what God has given us and by relinquishing what He takes from us. As I meditated on Elisabeth Elliot’s […]
I recently started reading Elisabeth Elliot’s book Secure in the Everlasting Arms, a collection of short devotional thoughts from the newsletter she wrote for almost twenty years. The very first entry hit me square between the eyes. The Lot We’re Dealt The entry is titled “Whatever My Lot” and, after giving a brief, personal backstory […]
Thank you, Rebecca, for sharing your story with us! Tell us about yourself! “You’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” Christopher Robin Hi, my name is Becky. I currently live in the piedmont of North Carolina, although I spend my best days hiking in the Smokey Mountains amidst […]
Two weeks ago we looked at the context for Jeremiah’s letter to the Jewish captives and God’s message to them (and us): stop panicking, pick up your hammer, and make yourself at home. In other words, don’t fight what is part of God’s plan for good. We also saw how part of making ourselves at […]
Last week we looked at the context for Jeremiah’s letter to the Jewish captives and God’s message to them in Jeremiah 29: stop panicking, pick up your hammer, and make yourself at home. In other words, don’t fight what is part of God’s plan for good. But God had another message to give to His […]
I recently read through the book of Jeremiah in my morning devotions, and God gave me a load of encouragement from Jeremiah 29. I took tons of notes and am excited to share those notes with you in the hopes they can encourage you too. A Message for the Needy First of all, let’s set […]
One of the things I’ve noticed in the almost-five months since my move, more than ever before in my life, is the juxtaposition life can offer of hard and good at the same time. Some weeks ago I was talking about it with my mom, and she said (in paraphrase, since I don’t remember her […]
3. Jesus has suffered as we have…and more. If you’d said this to me during the darkest of my wilderness days, I would have probably gotten very cranky. Sometimes it feels like Jesus is that perfect older brother who does everything right and, more importantly, never does anything wrong. When we lean into that bitter […]
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