Overcoming Trials

5 Powerful Truths About Trusting God in the Valley

I weave through a mantle of green rose bushes, wood nettle, and poison oak.  It’s growing darker here in the valley behind our house. I’m sure the neighbor boys are still pumping their little legs and racing our children across the backyard in the evening sunlight, but it feels like night in the valley.  The shadows prompt me to consider what trusting God in the valley really looks like.

Trusting God in the Valley

As the valley walls block out the sun’s last rays, I recall a valley we faced when winter’s arms still stretched white over these hills.

I rest on a fallen sycamore and watch trout jump as they eat the flies rising from black water.

Looking back, I remember hoping for a season of abundance and blessing but found mostly darkness.

I remember months of praying for a new direction and wondering where in the world God was leading.  I also remember what he showed me in the valley. Here are a few of those lessons about trusting God in the valley:

Lessons From the Valley

1. You can trust God in the valley because some lessons must be learned in the darkness.

God transforms us in the dark places.  Our hearts are shaped when it’s hard to see him.

We are refined in the dark.

Faith grows in the dark.

In the dark, the imprint of Christ’s light is forged upon our hearts.

We don’t know if our faith is strong enough to stand on until it is tested.  We don’t know if our God is big enough to carry us through the valley until we can no longer walk on our own.

Trusting God in the valley means you allow him to let the darkness conform you to his image, even when it hurts.  If your valley feels dark today, ask God to keep carrying you.  Ask him to fill you with his hope.  Meanwhile, trust that he is doing unseen work in your heart and life.  He is molding you into the image of his Son.

2. Trusting God in the valley includes walking forward when you don’t understand what God is doing.

Has God led you to a valley in which you cannot understand what he is doing?

It’s not easy to keep moving forward when God doesn’t seem good and his ways don’t make sense.

Nevertheless, at times, we cannot know or understand God’s ways.  We can only see part of the story.

Friend, your story is bigger than what you can see.

The key is to keep walking and keep obeying God, especially when you don’t understand the purpose.  Today, I encourage you to keep putting one foot in front of the other as you walk through this difficult time.

We move forward by continuing to press on when the valley seems never-ending.  It will end.  Until then, keep your eyes on the Lord and don’t stop moving.

3. God wants your valley to point to his goodness.

Do you want to learn how to point other people to Jesus?

Anyone can praise God’s goodness on the mountaintops of life.  Learn to point to God’s goodness in your deepest suffering.  You will point the world to unshakeable hope.  Others will be drawn to Jesus when they see the hope he offers in your valley.

Keep a soft heart.  God has not left you.  Watch for his hand, and when you cannot see him, stand on his promises.

Trusting God in the valley includes keeping a soft heart, always ready to testify to his goodness in your life - especially when life is hard. #trustingGod #encounteringGod Share on X

4. The valley is often an answer to prayers.

Valleys aren’t comfortable. Our culture encourages us to arrange our lives around comfort. However, when we arrange our lives to pursue comfort, we often lose access to the precise instruments that will bring our prayers to fruition.

In the valley, we come to know Christ more deeply as we share in his sufferings, ache with broken hearts, and have nowhere to turn but his everlasting arms.

The refining fire of the valley is one of the purest places to experience answers to our prayers.

5. The valley teaches lessons about unshakeable joy.

James reminds us that we can count trials as pure joy because they bring us to maturity and completion (see James 1:2-4).

The truest kind of joy transforms us into the likeness of Christ, and this kind of transformation often requires a valley.

Trusting God in the valley takes faith, but as we cling to him, we trust that he is forming us into the people he wants us to become.

As for me, I walk through the valley until the sun sinks low.  I thank God for the lessons I’ve learned in life’s darkest seasons, and I trust that the One who walks with me through every valley will never leave my side.

A Free Devotional to Help You Trust God in the Valley of Your Life:

Are you ready for a fresh breath of hope to help you through a difficult season? I have a gift for you today! Rays of Light for the Dark Days is my free online devotional for your darkest days.  You will find powerful inspiration and practical encouragement to help you through life’s trials. Click here and I’ll send it to your email inbox!

These books are free on Kindle Unlimited or available to purchase in print:

God wants to work in your life to accomplish what you’ve been unable to do through willpower alone.  Lean Into Grace: Let God’s Grace Heal Your Heart, Refresh Your Soul, and Set You Free shares practical ways to experience God’s freedom, healing, power, and presence in your life.  Find this life-changing book as a free eBook on Kindle Unlimited or for 12.99 in print right here.  (If you do not have Kindle Unlimited, you can try it out with a free three-month trial!) This book will transform your life and revitalize your relationship with the Lord!

Calling all moms and daughters!

Additionally, my teen daughter, Bekah, and I are passionate about helping moms and daughters grow closer while connecting with God.  We have written two mother-daughter devotionals together.  Girl to Girl: 60 Mother-Daughter Devotions for a Closer Relationship and Deeper Faith is written for girls ages 7-12. It includes 60 devotions with Scripture, conversation starters, and a shared journaling section after each devotion.

Heart to Heart: A Mother-Daughter Devotional With 50 Devotions for Teen Girls is for teenage girls ages 13-20.  It includes 50 devotions, each with a shared journaling section to help moms and daughters connect through writing.  This is a great book for moms who want to communicate about awkward topics—like dating, purity, peer pressure, and more—but don’t know where to start.  We will help you!

Multitudes of mothers, daughters, mentors, and younger women are being transformed by these books!  You can buy them as paperbacks or get your free Kindle Unlimited eBooks on Amazon right here.

I’m passionate about equipping others to encounter God in powerful and life-changing ways. When I’m not writing, you’ll find me hiking, jogging, exploring wild places with my three young children and husband, leading small groups, and mentoring younger women. A certified special education teacher, I am on leave from the classroom for a season of chasing frogs and playing in creeks with my little ones. Most of all, the compassionate love of Jesus has forever ravished my heart, and I'm emphatic about making his love known to the world.