In The Valley of Baca Journal # 30

The Silence of God by Anne Graham Lotz

He who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him.~Psalm 32:10, NKJV   Is God silent in your life? What prayers has He not answered for you? At a time of unanswered prayer in my life years ago, my mother taught me the verse to a hymn that I still quote when I am totally baffled by events that seem to careen out of the orbit of what I have asked: “Trust Him when dark doubts assail thee, Trust Him when thy strength is small, Trust Him when to simply trust Him, Seems the hardest thing of all.” Is your focus on your immediate need blinding you to a greater purpose that God is working out? Would you choose to be patient and simply trust Him? Sometimes God does not answer our immediate prayer because He has something greater in store for us. ~Anne Graham Lotz

“God is too good to be unkind and He is too wise to be mistaken. And when we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart.” ~Charles Spurgeon

April 4, 2021: “Nathaniel said to Him, ‘How do you know me?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.’”

Jesus saw me too, when I, a young teenager, was under that oak tree so many years ago, lying on the ground, looking up through the branches and leaves at the sky, wondering…

Who am I?

Why am I here?

Who is God?

He saw me and knew me even then. He put that yearning in my heart, that aching longing for something more—that longing for Him. And He knew this dilemma I would be facing at this time in my life. He is with me; He loves me. I am safe with Him.

May 9, 2021: The doctor has told me there is nothing more they can do to stop my cancer—no more treatment, we can only let it run its course. There may only be a few more weeks for me to survive in this life. So this may be my last journal recording.

“Mourner! Go sit under your ‘Beloved’s shadow with great delight.’ Hide in His wounded side! The hand which was pierced for you is ordering your trials; He who roused the storm is the hiding place from it…”  ~ John MacDuff

And so now I’m passing from the Valley of Baca into the Valley of the Shadow…”I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me”…such comforting words these are…”for Thou art with me…”