You desire to be used by God...to have others recognize your giftedness...to feel good about what God is accomplishing through you for His kingdom's sake...you want the spiritual mountaintop experience to continue. But then, you enter into a time where none of that seems to be happening. It's during those humiliating times...often confusing times...when your “metal” is going to be tested. What I mean by that is this---God does give us spiritually mountaintop experiences, but those “experiences” are not where we live. We live in a world of relationships, circumstances, regrets, hopelessness where it becomes easy to lose our confidence in God. It is there in the “valley” we must prove our trust in our Lord God...where we must learn to lean entirely upon His plan and purpose for us

The day is coming when we're in heaven and the tapestry of our lives will be revealed. It is then we'll discover how important our “valley” lives were to the glory of God. Wherever we find ourselves today (probably in the “valley”), let us be faithful in pursuing Jesus in faithfulness, obedience, and loving Him. My prayer for you and me this morning is this: Lord, so often we are prone to discouragement and defeat because we don't see anything spectacular coming from us. Help us to understand You are not expecting us to be “spectacular” but instead...faithful, trusting, obedient and loving You. May that be our goal, our reason for living. Amen

Reminds me of the words of Nusbaum's old hymn:

Would you in His kingdom find a place of constant rest?
Would you prove Him true in providential test?
Would you in His service labor always at your best?
Let Him have His way with thee.

His pow'r can make you what you ought to be;
His blood can cleanse your heart and make you free;
His love can fill your soul, and you will see
'Twas best for Him to have His way with thee.

Walk with the King today and be a blessing.