It's hard enough being separated by someone via distance or silence. It makes every day a battle, "every hour is a war I fight to survive" (thank you Owl City for so timelessly capturing my feelings). I'm tired of fighting by seven in the morning. I can't think about tomorrow, I can only get through today. And getting through today takes constant prayer. Even then it's...well, it is far beyond my strength.
So what about being separated by someone emotionally and spiritually? Seeing their hurt and being entirely shut out of their life? Sure, you can talk to them, touch them, email them, hug them...but they're gone. They're just not there inside. They are a hollow case, an ice sculpture skeleton in summer just waiting to crash.
If silence and distance can drive you crazy, emotional and spiritual disconnect could make you lose all hope.
Yet to hold onto that hope, to relentlessly intervene for them before the throne of God...that is courage and strength.
If you read back to the first blog post I ever did...that was me in the middle of a season of seeming hopelessness. Looking back, looking back I can see what God used to change me, to mold me. But that's because I was there, I lived it. I couldn't shut myself out of my own life. For everyone else though...that blog post is what they saw day in and day out on my face.
Well, I don't have much more to say without making this a direct letter to one person or another and it's meant for more than one person...so...
To anyone in the valley, don't give up. Just make it one more day. And when you're out of there, look back and see what God did for you, in you when you couldn't see the sun.
To those who are watching someone else in the valley, don't lose hope. Pray continually. And when they're out of the valley, go bug them with questions. Find out what it was like for them in the valley. God uses all things for the good of those who are called according to His purpose. Be relentless in your pursuit of finding out what good God might be bringing about out of their valley.