Valleys for Mountaintops

Dear reader,

I finally felt it break. The weight of the valley I had been trudging through, holding onto God’s word, encouraging myself through, keeping my focus locked in because anything my eyes gazed upon seemed to repeat the tauntings of my enemy. I finally felt it break.

And it was as good as I needed it to be when it happened.

At this point in my life, I recognize that anything worth having is going to cost you something. Peace is not free, my sense of security is not free nor is my ability to fly. It has all cost me dearly, but you might be surprised to learn that the price demanded of me were the fears, provoked by the unknown, that had long been my journey mates. How had I made it this far with such companions I wonder? God’s grace and his grace alone that’s how.

My story is not one for the faint at heart. I have lived through things I wouldn’t dare ‘do again if I had the chance.’ And even now I can still taste the char of a broken heart, still baffled by the way the thing I thought would ruin me became the thing God stood in, called me forth, and spoke my blessing through. That’s the mystery of each chapter in my story. At first glance, you could drown in the shallow end, but see it with spiritual eyes and you’d not get past the first line before you’d realize that God has always been upon me and the presence of God has always been with me.

Perhaps that is what I want to draw your attention to with this letter. As He is with me may you come to see He is with you.

I’m sitting in the breakthrough, covered in the journey, and yet rest has consumed my heart as the sweetness of victory fills the air around me. It is impossible to value the mountaintop without knowing the pain and the struggle of the climb. It is impossible to drink deeply the crisp, cool air if you are not acquainted with the piercing agony lack of breath brings. It is then that the most valuable of experiences is not found in the place of rest but in the moments of surrender. When my heart cried things my lips could not utter, when the pit I needed rescue from was one my own internal fears dug, the Lord was there revealing to me that not even the darkness I tried to avoid could do anything, but bow before Him.

Once again, God has done what only He can do; delivered me from it all into the next.

Oh, how I pray that you enjoy victory as I do, that your strength be renewed, that you come to know the texture of breakthrough and the overwhelming comfort that comes from hearing the Father say, “That’s it, kid. That’s good!”

Grace & Peace,

Lori LaChelle