HOW DID I GET HERE?

Have you ever been awakened from a deep sleep and been disoriented? Have you ever left a place, and driven somewhere and been so lost in thought that when you arrived at your destination you don't remember driving there or passing familiar landmarks on the way? Have you ever been forced to go somewhere that you really didn't want to go? Have you ever been out driving and someone pull out in front of you and then slam on their breaks? Have you ever been following someone (because you have never been to where you're going) and they leave you behind and you are just lost? Have you ever ridden in car with someone who "thinks" they know the way and then after your lost they refuse to stop and ask for directions because they are just sure if they keep going they will find it? Ps. 17:5 "Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not." Ps. 37:23 "The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way." Ps. 37:30-32 "The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment. The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide. The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him." In life there are many twists and turns. There are mountain top times, and there are deep valley moments. All of which are things that the Lord can use to mold us and make us into what HE wants us to be. Everyone LOVES those times when you are on the mountain top because the sun is shining bright, you can feel the sun on your face, and you can see the sky for miles, and the view is breath-taking. But we all go through valleys too. Most people don't enjoy those times. The warmth of sun is shaded by the depth of the valley, and it can be cold and dark, and lonesome. Ever go through a valley and wonder "How'd I get here?" There are different ways to end up in a valley. SLIP means to err, to fall into error. Unintentional error or fault. SLIDE means to pass in silent unobserved progression or an easy, smooth, interrupted course. STEP means to walk or advance into a place; progression; act of advancing. STUMBLE means to trip; to err. To obstruct in progress; to puzzle; to perplex.

There are times when we are innocently walking along and we slip and fall. Maybe we didn't see something in our path, maybe we weren't watching where we were going, whatever the case, we slipped, unintentionally. And there we are lost in a valley that we didn't see coming.

There are times when we slide by in life, doing as little as possible so that no one ever expects to much from us. When we slide, we do it slowly and quietly so that no one really notices that we're not around, and then the sin we get into seems to be normal. And we find ourselves to have slid so far from God that we can't hear Him trying to call us back to Him.

There are times when we see the danger up ahead. We know there is a dropping off point. There are warning signs that would detour us from the danger zone, but we press on. We step right into the path that we knew we should not have taken. And we are in a place that only God can get us out of. And we find ourselves begging for the help of God, whom we never consulted before stepping in this path.

There are also times when we are walking the right path, and we are looking ahead, trying to avoid the danger zones. We are careful when we walk so that we do not slip. We are cautious when we see a slippery place so that we do not slide. We take purposeful steps so as to follow those who have gone before us and left us a good path to follow. Then,... suddenly,... without warning, the person in front of you, the one whom you were watching so carefully, the one whose footsteps you were trying to follow in.....stumbles and falls. You try to catch yourself, you try to hang on to whatever you can but it is to late, and there you are, on your face in a valley you didn't even know was coming.

No matter which type of valley you find yourself in, God is your only way out. You may have sinned unintentionally. You may have allowed yourself to slowly drift away from Him. You may have willfully chosen it. Or someone may have stumbled in front of you and put you there. No matter. Only God can get you out. Sometimes He has to lead us out through the darkness, and sometimes He just reaches down and takes you right out of there. Either way, He is your only way out. Doesn't matter how you got there. Doesn't matter who's fault it is. All that matters is that you look to the One who can get you out.

Ps. 73:22-28 "So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee. Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee. But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works."