{"id":328,"date":"2018-04-10T14:43:11","date_gmt":"2018-04-10T14:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shop.honestreflections.net\/?p=328"},"modified":"2019-12-10T08:44:11","modified_gmt":"2019-12-10T13:44:11","slug":"hill-or-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2018\/04\/10\/hill-or-valley\/","title":{"rendered":"Hill or Valley?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I lift up my eyes to the mountains\u2014<\/span>where does my help come from?\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/sup>My help comes from the\u00a0Lord,<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>the Maker of heaven\u00a0and earth.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span> Psalm 121:1-2<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/em>
\nMy pastor started a new series this week, Hills and Valleys.\u00a0 It’s talking about when life is good and when life is bad.\u00a0 There is always the in between.
\nI am currently in the in between.\u00a0 I don’t know whether I’m going up the hill or down into the valley.\u00a0 I wonder how many of us are in the same position?
\nI run two small businesses.\u00a0 I teach tennis and I walk dogs.\u00a0 Both of them require me being on my feet.\u00a0 I found out yesterday I have a spur at the end of my achilles.\u00a0 It’s caused by chronic inflammation in the tendon.\u00a0 In other words, six months ago when it started to bother me, if I’d paid attention to the pain I was feeling, I may not be in this boat.\u00a0 I could of just rested it then for a few weeks and it would have been fine.
\nBut I didn’t. I ignored the red flags.\u00a0 Now I’m facing possible surgery and months of recovery.
\nWhat if I hadn’t ignored the red flags?\u00a0 Hindsight is always 20\/20.\u00a0 I wonder why we do it to ourselves?\u00a0 Why do ignore the signs? The warnings God places in our path to keep us from injuring ourselves?\u00a0 It can be relationally, physically, financially.\u00a0 There are so many times we see the symptoms but ignore the problem.
\nThe friend who only calls when they need something and we’re always there.\u00a0 The boyfriend\/girlfriend who only cares about their needs and we push ours aside.\u00a0 The pain we feel in our achilles but keep playing anyway.\u00a0 The credit card we can’t pay off at the end of the month but we keep charging.
\nJust a few examples, and we’re all guilty of it at one point or another.\u00a0 I can just imagine God looking down on me right now, shaking His head.\u00a0 “I tried to warn you Beth.\u00a0 You wouldn’t listen.\u00a0 How much pain do you have to feel for me to get your attention?”
\nThat’s just heartbreaking.\u00a0 I think I’m so tight with God, yet sometimes I ignore His most obvious signs.\u00a0 Thank You God for loving me anyway.\u00a0 Forgive me for not listening.
\nI wonder what God is trying to tell you that you’re not hearing?\u00a0 How much pain do you have to feel before you start listening?\u00a0 I’m praying it’s not as much as mine!
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I lift up my eyes to the mountains\u2014where does my help come from?\u00a0\u00a0My help comes from the\u00a0Lord,\u00a0the Maker of heaven\u00a0and earth.”\u00a0\u00a0 Psalm 121:1-2 My pastor started a new series this week, Hills and Valleys.\u00a0 It’s talking about when life is good and when life is bad.\u00a0 There is always the in between. I am currently… Continue reading Hill or Valley?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1556,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328\/revisions\/1556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}