FROM HILL TOP TO HILL TOP

            It would be nice to live at the top of a hill that overlooked a beautiful valley. It would also be nice to live on a spiritual Hilltop at all times.  Unfortunately, this is not the way life works.  Most people only get to enjoy the scene from the top of the hills if they go on a vacation, and spiritually, only if they have climbed out of a valley.

Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…..

            In the Bible, the scripture refers to the valley as the shadow of death: a dark place in which death hovers: physical death or spiritual death.  In this valley there may be illness, weakness or doubts about God and Christ.     

            So how can we over come this death and reach the hill top experience?

There are many times in life you may feel like you are stuck in the valley of the shadow of death.  You may have an illness, someone you love may have a life threatening disease, and you may have begun to wonder if God really hears your prayers, or you may even find yourself wondering if Christ is real.  The only way to overcome these feelings and crawl out of this valley of the shadow of death is to rely on Christ.

I shall fear no evil, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me….

            Keep in mind that Christians are like sheep and Christ is the Shepherd.  Therefore, He knows that we, as sheep, will sometimes get lost in the valley.  Yet, it is His desire to take all of his sheep to higher ground.  So, He looks for His lost sheep: those who are hidden in the dark shadows of the valley (the shadow of death).  And when He finds them, he guides them out of the valley.  He may have to prod them along with his staff. If one of the sheep is very stubborn, He may have to get forceful.  So it is with us. 

            If we are in the valley, sick or doubtful, backslidden or hurting, Christ will be looking for us.  He may have to prod us along.  He may have to use, what seems at the time, unpleasant experiences to inspire us to climb out of that valley, and He won’t give up. He will call to us over and over again. How long we stay in that valley is determined by how stubborn we are.

            Remember, the shepherd wants to take his sheep to graze on the higher hills where the grass is greener, so to, Christ wants to take us to hilltop experiences were we can be spiritually fed.

He prepareth a table before me…….

            There will be valleys in your life: hard times, ill times, times of loss and times of doubt, but do not allow yourself to stay in those valleys for long.  Reach up to Christ and allow him to guide you out of the valley.  Seek to live from Hill top to Hill top, learning from, enduring and conquering the valleys in-between, until the Shepherd calls us all home.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,

 and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord Forever

CHRISTMAS VILLAGE MIRACLE

by Teresa Ives Lilly

This is a novella about two lonely people who find that their Christmas prayers are answered when prayed over a very special Christmas Village.

Will they find one another as part of the answer to their prayers?
When Jane Smith stops to admire the lovely christmas village in the antique store she never realizes that her dreams of someday living in a place like the New England Village can come true with just a small prayer prayed over the christmas village. Ron a lonely banker, finds himself in the antique store as well, praying a similar prayer. Now can the two of them find one another? This is a story that Christian romance readers will enjoy for Christmas and be able to share with the whole family.

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