God Has Purpose For Your Heartache

 

Moses fled from Pharaoh through the desert not knowing he would do it again one day while leading a million or more people.

When you’ve travelled a certain path, you are able to later lead others down that path.

When I was a little girl, my dad would lead our family up a mountain in Virginia called Old Rag.

I grew to love that hike.

 

 

Little did I know I would one day lead a few friends over that mountain.

It was an easy for me to lead them because I had done it many times in my youth.

(Although the ending of that particular trip was rather difficult but you can read about that escapade HERE.)

 

 

A few years ago my husband and I hiked a trail we never thought we would.

Leaving our home church.

The place where I received Christ.

The place where I grew as a Christian.

The place where we surrendered to full-time service.

The place where we spoke our wedding vows.

The place where we brought our children before the Lord when they were born.

The place where my husband baptized my mom.

The place where my dad was baptized while I was on the mission field.

It was one of the hardest things we have ever done.

To leave a place you love and people you love and you are forced to walk away feeling the deep sting of rejection.

 

 

Though it was difficult, I can now see a bigger picture.

Not only did we need to leave to grow in grace but we also were being sent away by God for a future purpose as Moses was.

It is the same for all the difficult trials God allows us to pass through. The hike through our valleys opens doors to minister in ways we never can foresee.

Moses didn’t just lead the people through the wilderness.

 

 

He walked with them. 

When we emerge from our valleys we are equipped to sit with the broken and listen and empathize, having truly felt the same hurt. To speak words of Truth and encouragement to those whose hearts ache while they walk the deep dark of their valleys.

In the after, it makes sense and we can now see the good and the hand of God a little more clearly.

 

 

Is there something difficult you have been through? Are you able to see how God allowed it so you could reach out and walk through it again later with someone else?

 

 

If you are walking through a difficult time now, give it to the Lord and ask him to help you see the good and not focus on the bad, so that one day you may be able to lead someone else out of that valley you are currently hiking through.

Prayer requests? Share in the comments or email me through the “contact” link in the menu bar above. It will be prayed over.