Recently I’ve had trouble sleeping. Not sure the exact reason. Could be any number of things.
While thinking about not sleeping, though, Billy Joel’s song about walking in his sleep, River of Dreams, popped into my brain.
I know…my thoughts are not linear. They bounce all over the place. (Much like when I play pickleball.)
In his song Billy Joel talks about walking in his sleep from mountains of faith to valleys so deep.
He goes through the valley of fear, to rivers, and the jungle of doubt.
He asks himself what he’s looking for.
It isn’t anything he’d lose, it has to be something somebody stole.
He wraps it up with stating he hopes whatever it is doesn’t take him the rest of his life to find.
Any of that sound familiar to your life? It sure does mine.
Are there times when you are standing tall on mountains of faith one day, then plunge to the jungles of doubt the next?
What about those valleys of deep fear and depression?
Obviously, we wouldn’t go around tossing ourselves into those dark times on purpose, for goodness sake. Our peace, happiness, joy aren’t things we’d willing throw out the window and lose.
Those are things Satan, the deceiver, joy-stealer-extraordinaire, delights in snatching right out from under us.
That’s what he’s good at. Taking our moments of victory – whatever that looks like to each of us individually – our mountains of faith, and dropping us into a valley of fear.
He really cannot stand for us to enjoy the life our Creator God has given us.
Satan wants us to live in misery and works very hard to fulfill that desire.
If we are in a place where we feel something in our lives is missing … like we’ve lost something important, possibly our joy in the knowledge we are a beloved child of the One True King, perhaps we need to wake up. Stop walking in our sleep and going through the motions of life.
Could it be we need to turn our lives completely over to Jesus and ask him to restore our joy? Could it be we need his shield of protection around us to stop Satan’s assaults?
I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject. Leave a comment below. If you think others would appreciate reading this please share it through the social media buttons.
Be self-controlled and vigilant always, for your enemy the devil is always about, prowling like a lion roaring for its prey. Resist him, standing firm in your faith and remember that the strain is the same for all your fellow-Christians in other parts of the world. And after you have borne these sufferings a very little while, God himself (from whom we receive all grace and who has called you to share his eternal splendour through Christ) will make you whole and secure and strong. All power is his for ever and ever, amen! 1 Peter 5:8-11 (Phillips)
I wish you well.
Sandy
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Thanks, Sandy. I needed to read this this morning.
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Thanks, Marlene. It’s something I struggle with remembering. Praying for you and the Philly conference.
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I find the timeliness of this post fascinating. Saturday night while praying I asked the Lord for joy. I was in a dark place and new exactly what I needed. He immediately put a church song from my childhood into my mind and I sang it in my head until I fell asleep. Yes, it made me smile and I felt joy. 🙂 Then the next morning at church the opening song was about joy. I should mention I am a musician so I relate big time to music.
Now I read this. I am also a writer, and words speak to me. 🙂
I know I shouldn’t be so amazed by this, but God’s great love for us never ceases to amaze me.
Thank you for sharing.
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Kimberly, thanks so much for sharing. God is amazing. I love how he is at work in our hearts and lives and we don’t see it until we’re on the other side of whatever troubled us to begin with. Sometimes it’s the simple things that touch our heart, like childhood songs…”I’ve got the joy, joy, joy. joy down in my heart…and if the Devil doesn’t like it, he can sit on a tack!”
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LOL that’s that exact song. Too funny.
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It’s my “go-to” song, so I could totally relate. 🙂
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I can so identify with those “middle of the night” episodes, part of aging, but often worrying about things, thinking of what I need to remember do the next day, etc. These are also some of my best my best prayer times, and recalling old, familiar hymns often provides an escape.
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Thanks for joining in, Marsha. Absolutely agree these are some of the nights we really seek the Lord. I love running the words of hymns through my mind.
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