Blessed are those whose strength is in you,

who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.

As they pass through the Valley of Baka (weeping),

they make it a place of springs. (vv. 5 – 6 of Psalm 84)

Reframing. 

We are learning in my class at VCU how to reframe organizations.  Whereas you may have structured your organization under a certain framework, many things can cause the need to reframe.  When you break a pattern or something drastic happens you are called, or forced to reframe.  Reframing is looking at the situation from all angles and literally changing the way you view situations and events, and how you structure your resources and time.

I don’t know anyone in my life who is not going through some sort of change.  For some of my friends they are finding that they will be in the Valley of Baca (weeping) for a season.  God is there.  Jesus weeps with us and lifts us up.

The only way I see us being able to reframe some situations is to totally believe and count on that God is our strength, and we acknowledge that life is not easy, but a pilgrimage.  You don’t have to buy the ticket to Mecca and literally walk that dusty road.  Your little house in your neighborhood, the roads you take each day when going to work and carting children around, your walk down the hall at work, your relationships, your events, your circumstances – YOU ARE ON A PILGRIMAGE.  This life counts, and you may be one in a million, zillion on planet earth, but at the same time God calls you the “apple of His eye!”

There is no denying our past.  The footsteps we’ve taken on this pilgrimage.  They propel us on, but our eyes are focused on the road ahead, while learning from our past, and embracing the message of the road travelled.  We keep moving.  We press on.  Only through the power of God and His strength will we take this valley of weeping and turn the tears into a place of springs! God gave us brains that have the ability to store and remember, so I’ve never thought we had to work on completely forgetting our past, but how do we use God’s strength to reframe our past as we are moving ahead on our pilgrimage. 

One personal, yet profound example is years of self talk in my mind of how unworthy I was.  It was based on certain relationships in which I was emotionally and physically told how unworthy I was as a person, and my physical appearance.  Nothing hurts more for a woman, than being told how “ugly” she is.  Grow up in your adolescent years and younger childhood days with this knowledge it’s hard to dismiss, or reframe.  But with God’s strength, I’m learning how very special I am to Him, and that I don’t have to be anybody but me, God’s child, in His arms, loving me.  God can heal and set my feet on a pilgrimage of hope and healing.  I don’t need to be in this constant striving to be perfect or seek constant approval so that I am worthy.  I simply am worthy because God loves me.  Period.

Your tears, your pilgrimage will produce a river of life – springs of living water.  God’s Word promises that those who love Him will have a river of life flowing from them.

This whole concept that sounds too good to be true, too hard for some of us who are crying, weeping and can’t see past the hurt, and for some perhaps a ridiculous fairy tale.  If you would consider embracing this reframing of what your life can be – a pilgrimage of God as your strength, and the valley of weeping, a journey we must take at times, and the promise of the springs, I believe we can all press on with a more confident footing.

If the enemy, the father of lies, has sold you a lie: (Sometimes it’s good to just say that right out loud: THAT’S A LIE!)

God must be punishing me.

I must be a pretty bad person for this to have happened.

Nothing good happens to me.

My life is a disappointment.

I am not as talented as others.

I feel worthless.

I should give up.

If he has convinced you of any of those sentences, it’s time to reframe by using God’s Word.  There are so many verses to remind you of how much God loves you, He is for you not against you, and He wants good things for YOU.  Take your eyes off of Facebook, friends’ advice, this blog, your dirty house, television and spend time with Jesus in His Word and allow Him to work in your life.  As He speaks to you share it with others.  When you take the time to speak, write, reveal what God is doing in your life, not only are you claiming His work to others, but you are also ENCOURAGING others in their walk.  We learn from each other.

A great song/video:  Blessings by Laura Story – an honest song about our pilgrimage….(please click on box to hear)

Here is a good place to start:  Who are you in Christ?

http://www.joycemeyer.org/articles/ea.aspx?article=knowing_who_i_am_in_christ