Mountains and Valleys

   The saying goes that life is full of ups and downs. One day you may be at the top of the mountain and the next day you are in a rock slide on the way to the valley below. Sometimes it feels like you will never climb out of that valley. As soon as you get a few steps up the mountain something causes you to slip back down.
   I have been feeling that way lately. There are parts of my life that are great. I am married to the love of my life, we have a home, jobs, our health and our children are all healthy. That is a life filled with blessings and what I wake up thankful for each morning.
   Then the trials come in and you wonder if you will ever reach the top of that mountain or you will always get knocked back down just as you get close. Even when your children get older you feel their problems and hurts as your own. Even if you feel close to the top of that mountain in your own life, if your children are facing trials it will halt your ascent.
   I told my mother-in-law yesterday that just once I'd like to see the view from the top of that mountain. She told me to give everything over to God and leave it there. Not to give it to Him then take it back down off the shelf. She is a very wise woman!
   After a lot of prayer and quiet time with God, I have come to the realization that I will not reach the top of that mountain in my lifetime. That there will always be trials but that whatever they are the Lord will carry me, and my family, through. And I will reach the top of that mountain - when I am called home to be with Jesus.
   So I will relish the time I am in the valley or half way up that mountain. I will grow stronger each time I fall down and climb back up. I will continue to look up and reach for the top. And when Jesus looks down and reaches out his Hand I will be lifted up to the most glorious mountain top.