SPRINGS IN THE VALLEY

I'm once again joining with the writers of Five Minute Friday, where we are given a theme word each Friday, where we write for five minutes and resist the urge to edit or tidy it up.  

This week's theme word is SPRING. 

Blessed is the man whose strength is in You,

Whose heart is set on pilgrimage.

As they pass through the Valley of Baca,

They make it a spring;

The rain also covers it with pools.

They go from strength to strength;

Each one appears before God in Zion.   Psalm 84:5-7

So many times over the last year, I've found myself in this passage of Scripture, because it pretty much sums up what's been happening.   I've been walking through a valley, and it's been a dark and long valley.  Strangely enough, my circumstances haven't changed or become more difficult.        In fact, the last year or so has been easier, in many ways, than many of the years before it.   But it's more that God has taken me backwards through 'doorways of pain', as Joyce Meyer describes in her book, Beauty for Ashes. 

The valley described in this passage is the Valley of Baca, meaning a place of weeping.      

It sure has been a valley of tears and discovery and pain, and it's been rough.  I started consistently blogging again, after a considerable break, to help me process what God was doing and is still doing.   I'm still in the valley.   

But, this valley has also been a place of discovering deep springs, being fed and watered in rich ways by Him.   It's been a time of being healed and filled at a deeper level than I knew possible.  Apparently the grass grows greener in the valley, and the deeper the valley, the greener it is.   I didn't know that, but I am discovering that.    

My oldest daughter lives in a valley, and the ground is very rich and fertile, and the crops grow very quickly there.   How beautiful is that green!?                                                                                                

 

It says in this passage that 'they' make it a spring, and that the rain also covers it with pools, so it's twofold.   Firstly, God provides the valley and the water and the refreshment, but we also have to make a decision how we're going to go through.   Our hearts have to be set on (committed to) going through, persevering, facing it, pushing on to acknowledge Him in the midst of it all.    And like the soil, our hearts have to be receptive to Him.  

As we commit to going through the valley, He meets us there, He covers it all with His rains, and He strengthens.   We can't strengthen ourselves, but we can resolve to keep moving forward.  And we can dig deep wells, springs, that He then fills with His rain.   We can make this valley a spring, if we look for Him and humble ourselves before Him.  It may be a valley of tears, but it can also be a place of life and growth.   The Shepherd is indeed very close in the valley and He does indeed restore and heal. 

Eventually, we get through the Valley of Baca, and come out different, healed, whole, stronger, and knowing the Shepherd of the valley in a way we didn't know was possible.   

This passage has also been God's reminder over the last little while.   

Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge Him.

As surely as the sun rises, He will appear;

He will come to us like the winter rains,

like the spring rains that water the earth.”  Hosea 6:3

Once again, a song to remind me of truth.   

I've walked among the shadows
You wiped my tears away
And I've felt the pain of heartbreak
And I've seen the brighter days
And I've prayed prayers to heaven from my lowest place
And I have held the blessings
God, You give and take away

In the valley, I will lift my eyes to the One who sees me there

When I'm standing on the mountain, I didn't get there on my own

When I'm walking through the valley I know I am not alone

You're God of the hills and valleys

Hills and valleys

God of the hills and valleys

And I am not alone