know me by His scars.

So this whole travel blog thing is clearly not my forte. Not because I don’t have a million things to say about my trip and just as many evidences of what God has done and is doing. (I’ll get to the rest of it one day, I promise.)

But maybe it’s slow to come out just because of that – because what God is doing hasn’t stopped, and maybe it’s only building, day by day.

England was a mountaintop. It was a long journey just to even get on the plane over there, and then it was two weeks of seeing God move and work – seeing His glory.

But everything’s in season. There’s a time for all things under the sun. Just like the journey to get there, mountaintops don’t last forever. And sometimes the path to the valley is way quicker – rolling downhill and all that.

So here’s the thing about the “mountaintop” – it’s great. You can stand and just be grateful, just be awed at the goodness and greatness of God. Marvel at all He has done. Feel refreshed in the crisp thin air. Be blown away by the thunder of His majesty.

But you can’t put down roots there. By its very nature, by our incompatibility, it’s not somewhere we can stay for long. There’s not enough soil for the seeds to die then come to life – too much time and they’ll just stagnate. Sit and do nothing.

There’s no place for roots to grow deep. Just a sure foundation.

As much as we all hate the idea of going through the valley (of the shadow of death, I might add), the valley is the only place we grow. The valley has the life, the water we need to nourish our souls, to fill us.

It has the rich soil where we can grow deep roots below, to really get down to the bedrock of our inmost beings. Where the ugly things can be brought out and purged like the dross from refined silver.

The thing about deep healthy roots below? No matter what storms are happening above ground, in season, those roots can grow new branches. Healthy roots, in season, always bear visible fruit.

So what’s the fruit? Do you see the fruits above from those roots below? I do. Even in the simplest things.

Like trusting that even if I don’t like what God’s allowing in my life, He is still God and He is still good, so I can accept whatever He places before me. He is good. He loves me, He wants what’s best for me, and He is what’s best for me.

I can rest, knowing He gives me my manna for today and hope for tomorrow – and that’s enough for me. He gives me exactly what I need, exactly when I need it, over and over and over and over again.

Because it’s who He is.

Jesus said, “Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give You rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is comfortable, and My burden is light.” – Matthew 11:28-29 (NASB)

He wants us to come to Him, to bring Him our burdens – to remove our heavy yoke of slavery, to take on His in its stead and learn from Him. A yoke is a tool. It can be a tool to bind, to oppress. But Jesus uses it the way it’s intended – to guide and to teach.

If you’re not a farmer (me either, but I did grow up in rural Colorado, aka western Kansas, aka farm country, aka we did have a “drive your tractor to school day” every year), let me help paint the image. Back before tractors with motors, ox – think cow, because that works too – would be hitched to a yoke and their strength would be used to pull the plow to plant the seed, etc, etc. But when there was a new ox, they would be yoked to an older, experienced ox, who knew what to do until they learned it too and stopped trying to go off doing whatever other ox things they wanted to do.

Without being in anyway irreverent – in this scenario, Jesus is our older, experienced ox. He knows the Way. He knows the how. He even knows the why – not that that’s any of our business.

He’s not yoking us to dominate or subdue. If that was His goal, there are easier methods – He is God after all.

No, He wants to teach us, to gently guide us by the hand and show us His new and better Way.

How wise we would be to listen to Him and follow His calling in this.

So next time you’re in the valley of the shadow of death (and that death is only a shadow – it can’t touch you), be teachable. Know that He wants what’s best for you, is growing you here.

That here too, you can choose to stand and just be grateful, just be awed at the goodness and greatness of God. Marvel at all He has done.

Dig those roots deep below, bear the fruits high above, and learn from Him – yoke yourself to the One who knows the Way.

And don’t lose heart.

The best is still yet to come.

Emily