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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