Have you ever had those moments where things keep showing up in front of you and it makes you ask, what does it mean? I keep thinking that God must be preparing me for something that is coming.
The past six months have been incredibly difficult in many ways, from navigating familial relationships, health issues with my parents, balancing work and travel, concerns for the future with both my family and the state of the world.
I never used to believe in spiritual warfare, I thought it was something that only the “freaky Christians” believed in. But y’all, over the past six months the warfare has been palpable! To say the least. Because of everything I have been experiencing, when I was choosing my word for the year there were several words that came to mind. I was reflecting on battle, armor, war and then a couple of phrases, one being mountains and valleys. These words have been repeated and have become themes for me.
Over the past two months the word strength has appeared in scripture more times than I can tell you. A couple of weeks ago, I started to move all my old blogs from my old website to this new one, I stumbled on one of my favorite posts I had written Surefootedness. I remember being so enthralled with a deer’s foot. What was so special about it? Simply put, God designed the deer’s foot in a way that will help it traverse a mountain successfully.
The next day, I went to underline a verse in Psalm 18, and my eyes went straight to verse 39, “You have armed me with strength for the battle.” Here strength and battle had popped up for a few days, so I was like hmmm, let’s read this. Low and behold, I was floored when I read:
“God arms me with strength wand he makes my way perfect. He makes me as surefooted as a deer enabling me to sand on mountain heights. He trains my hands for battle, he strengthens my arm to draw a bronze bow. You have given me your shield of victory. Your right hand supports me; your help has made me great.” Psalm 18:32-35
I did not even realize that the blog I was reminiscing about the night before was from Psalm 18! So many words in these verses had been placed before me and I could not figure out why…mountains, battle, strength. What did it mean? Behaving not much like a warrior, I broke down with a friend because I started to feel overwhelmed. It was overwhelming that the Lord would keep speaking to me, as if He were saying, “I’m going to repeat myself until you understand.” The tears flowed and I asked my dear friend, “What is God preparing me for?” She suggested that maybe it wasn’t that He was preparing me for anything, maybe it was to equip me for the season I was in. I dismissed this initially.
Fast forward, I spent quite a bit of time in my bible and was looking for verses on strength. I was in 2 Samuel and once again, I was dumbfounded, “God is my strong fortress, and he makes my way perfect. He makes me as surefooted as a deer, enabling me to stand on mountain heights. He trains my hands for battle; he strengthens my arm to draw a bronze bow. You have given me your shield of victory, your help has made me great.” 2 Samuel 22:33-36
It wasn’t that the Lord gave me words that repeated, He repeated the same verses from two different books. At the time, I did not think through the fact that David wrote the Psalms, and 2 Samuel is about David. Technically, I shouldn’t be surprised, some would say it was obvious and there wasn’t anything supernatural there. That, however, is not what I say.
I KNOW without a doubt, He wasn’t preparing me for anything; it was for the season I am currently in. I am in the valley. But my Heavenly Father is making me surefooted like a deer so I can traverse the rocky terrain and climb to the mountain top. I may be under spiritual attack, but through my time in His Word He is training me and strengthening my arm for the battle. The battle that I am currently in, and the battle that is yet to come. He is my strength and my shield and in Him I will claim victory. I also know that because I have met God on the mountain top, I KNOW He will be with me in the valley.