The Valley of Baca

So I woke up early again. Again feeling very sad. Feeling the sorrow of having to say 'goodbye.' A season is over and it is almost time to hang up my hat.

How hard it is to obey My Lord. Again He spoke to me! Infinite patient God.

My reading for this morning is Psalm 84. Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. ⁶ As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools.^[d] ⁷ They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion

My devotional had a beautiful 'garden" word picture.

"When the shadows of night - needed night- gather over the garden of our souls, when leaves close up and flowers no longer reflect within their folded petals... we must remember that we will never be found wanting and that the comforting drops of heavenly dew fall only after the sun has set."

As the earth needs the clouds and the rain with the sunshine,
Our souls need both sorrow and joy,
So He places us oft in the fire of affliction
The dross from the gold to destroy.

Yet how often we shrink from the purging and pruning,
Forgetting the Husbandman knows
That the deeper and closer the cutting and paring,
The richer the cluster that grows.

So we'll follow Him faithfully where'er He leadeth,
The pathway be dreary or bright;
For we've proved that our God is the "God of all comfort,
The God who gives songs in the night.

Source: http://www.hymnal.net/hymn.php/h/728#ixzz1U9McA5gY

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