“(I) pass through the valley of Baca (weeping)… (Ps. 84:6a NKJV)
I haven’t written for the last many months, as it has been a “valley of tears”, a season of sorrows. Experiences in almost every arena of life took me from just an incidental sadness to overwhelming sorrow. Situations I faced personally, or those faced by my dearest family members or friends, happened is such close succession, that truly it became not only a season of sorrows, but a “tsunami of sorrow”. Such was the word picture I had in my mind, one morning in April. Emotionally, it truly felt as if I would be swallowed up by this overwhelming wall of sorrow. Although I tried to imagine a different scene in my mind (as in Psalms 23), I was unable to alter this emotion. Lovingly, my husband prayed for the Lord to give me a different word picture.
Instantly, I received an image that halted and has continued to halt the feeling of being overwhelmed by sorrow and tears.
… HE LIFTS ME UP.
Like a rescuer in a basket being lowered to rescue a drowning person, I sensed Jesus coming to lift me up from watery depths to a place of safety. I was safe with Him!
Circumstances didn’t all change, nor did everything magically become all “OK”, but Jesus seemed to speak to my heart and say, “You will not drown, but you will still feel the splash”.
He warns us of the trials, sufferings, and challenges we will have. But, like that rescuer, He is there to “lift us up” to a place of safety in and with Him! Our specific circumstances will vary, one person’s sorrow may not be another’s, but grief or sorrow is something we will all experience.
I couldn’t write earlier, because I wanted this to be a “past experience”; but when I changed my perspective, that He lifts me (an ongoing action), it was possible to share it. Sometimes our specific causes for sorrow end, but sometimes they don’t. Our grief experience isn’t something we can assume will be just like someone else’s, although it may be. How we endure it, is to seek our God of Comfort, and let Him prescribe the exact remedy that you need.
From the valley of weeping, we can “go from strength to strength.” (Ps. 84:7a NKJV). Throughout my season of sorrow, there have been those “strengths” interspersed, as the Lord would provide a blessing, a simple joy, a comfort…all which enabled me to “keep on keeping on” as my Mom used to say. These verses were favorite ones for her, and I have come to dearly love them as well.
May you seek and know Jesus, who is ready to be with you in times of perils, fears, or sorrows!
May your valley of weeping become that “spring” from which much beauty flows!