When Love Walks Through the Valley

It was just before 3 a.m.

The night was cold and quiet, and my heart was really weighed down. Lately, my mind is filled with unanswered questions and an unbearable weight of burdens, and I feel my strength slowly slipping away. Some of that heaviness stem from the state of the world, the unrest in so many nations, the suffering that seems both distant and near. Yet, life carries on. People keep scrolling, posting, working, and planning as if nothing is happening. It is as though, unless it happens to them directly, many would prefer not to see it at all. That night, it all felt too heavy.

So, I reached for what I had: the bread and the cup and I took Holy Communion. I needed to bring the Lord to remembrance of His covenant. Afterward, I lay back in bed and that is when I had the dream.

In the dream, someone mentioned John 3:16, a verse I know by heart.
Naturally, I expected to hear: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son…” Instead, they spoke these words: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me.” That is not John 3:16, that is Psalm 23:4!
At first, I was confused. Why mention one verse and then recite another? Was it a mistake? A mix-up? The more I pondered, the clearer it became, and for me, that was an ‘aha!’ moment.

We often treat John 3:16 and Psalm 23:4 as verses for different seasons of life. One speaks of salvation and the other speaks of suffering. One declares eternity and the other meets us in the valley. As I continued to reflect, the Holy Spirit continued to teach me that God’s love does not just save, it stays. John 3:16 reminds us that God gave and Psalm 23:4 reminds us that God stays. He is not only the One who rescued us from sin, He is also the One who walks with us through our darkest nights. The valleys we walk through in this life are real and sometimes, they do not look like obvious crises.

Sometimes it is the quiet heaviness you carry. Sometimes it is watching injustice unfold while people look the other way. Sometimes it is seeing children suffer while systems fail. Sometimes it is that deep tiredness that comes from carrying burdens you do not even have language for anymore. I have learnt that we often pray, “Lord, take this away.” That too was my part of my prayer that night. Scripture does not promise we will avoid the valley. It promises He will walk us through it and that is where Psalm 23:4 and John 3:16 intersect.

John 3:16 is more than a memory verse, it is the heart of the gospel. God so loved the world that He did not just give a solution, He gave Himself and when He gave Himself, He entered into our pain.
He walked where we walk. He cried like we cry. He bore what we could not. That same Jesus, the one who died to save us, is also the Shepherd who walks with us.

Through abuse.
Through injustice.
Through hopelessness.
Through silence.
Through exhaustion.
The love that went to the cross in John 3:16 is the same love that stands with you in the Psalm 23:4 valleys of your life and says, “You are not alone.”

So, dear reader, I do not know what you are carrying right now. Maybe your heart, like mine, is heavy. Maybe you have come to a point where all you can do is just say a little prayer in the middle of the night and hold on to covenant. Let me tell you what I felt that night after the dream: The same love that saved you is still walking with you.

Even when it is dark.
Even when it is heavy.
Even when it feels like the world does not care.
This is not just a love that rescues, it is a love that remains.
I believe that is what the Lord was trying to tell me through the dream that the One who gave His Son so we could live is the same One who walks with us so we are never alone.

He gave His life to save us. He gives His presence to sustain us.