Lord, even when your path takes me through the valley of deepest darkness, fear will never conquer me, for you already have! You remain close to me and lead me through it all the way. Your authority is my strength and my peace. The comfort of your love takes away my fear.

A couple of weeks ago, Glen and I had a very strange experience.  Both of us had slept badly and I woke up with a heavy sense of dread.  I had no idea why, so I prayed protection over each of my loved ones.    After praying, I cracked on with my day, still feeling heavy, but ignoring it.  It was mid afternoon when I realised that something was seriously wrong with our cat, Tia.  

Tia is so very precious to us.  She came to us as a pure gift and has enriched our lives so much with her love and chatty personality.  To say we love and treasure her would be an understatement.  

This particular afternoon, she was not chatty at all.  In fact, she wasn’t opening her eyes, was inactive, not eating and barely responsive.  She was cold to the touch and seemed to be getting worse.  I suddenly realised that this was why I felt such dread and was filled with overwhelming fear and emotion.  Tia seemed to slip into a deep sleep and was responding to nothing.  I was convinced we were losing her and I had no idea what had happened.  As a family, we all prayed over her and I called the vet. 

During the few hours between that phone call and being able to take her to the vet, I felt like I was walking down that valley of deep darkness and I was afraid.  I was so afraid.  So emotional.  However, I knew that whatever the rest of this day held, God would be with me.  He was walking down that valley with me.  I couldn’t stop being afraid.  However, I knew whatever I had to go through, He would be with me and would comfort me.  This would not overtake me, He would enable me to get through it.  

It turned out that God rescued Tia that evening and to our great relief, we brought her home and she is recovering well.  We still don’t know what happened but it is wonderful to know she’s safe and curled up on my knee once again.

I think we read so often in the Bible, the words “do not fear”, “do not be afraid” that we maybe feel like we should never feel those things, but in our humanness, there are things that are incredibly scary and I don’t believe for a second that God would expect us not to be.  Some things in life are shocking and frightening, but the important thing is that we know that…

“The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.” Psalms 34:17‭-‬18 NLT

How does He rescue us from it? Well this time He completely rescued us from that terrible pain, but one day it will be a reality and I can be assured that He will be ever close to my broken heart, just as He will be to yours when painful things happen.  I believe He rescues us by being with us and in us, whilst enabling us to walk through that reality, one step at a time.  Whatever you are facing today, let Him into your heart and mind and walk you through it holding your hand.  He can be your comfort, your peace and your strength and He loves you more than you can ever imagine.