Streams in the Valley of Baca

We have 8 kid birthdays in our family, but now there are 7 more as we are hosting our friend's kid birthdays as well!  So on Thursday, our friends came down as their daughter was turning 16.  That's a big birthday and when you are in the midst of a dark family trial, you make every effort to make it fun and memorable.  This time last year, the family was still "together", so it was a very different birthday for her 15th.

She woke up and within the hour, we had fed 16 hungry children and few adults eggs benedict (which the mom had brought as that is their family tradition).  Then, we led her all throughout the day on a "16 gift" experience where she was given 16 little things that we thought represented her.  We all wanted to do something significant or give her something significant that would keep her eyes pointed heavenward during this upcoming year.  Then it came to me - a plant!  Why a plant?  That was going to be her last gift.  To me it symbolized hope, life, during a time in her life when it seems like there is none.

So, we had tacos for dinner (a family favourite for both families) and then we sat around in the family room to tell stories about her, her birth, all things "her".  I wasn't planning on speaking to her, but suddenly it came to me, I had read many many verses recently where I had put her mom's name in my Bible's margins...I quickly just asked, "Can I read some of the verses I've read recently?"  It didn't matter what she answered, I was going to read them to her anyway.  Here are a few of the psalms I read:

"You have fed them with the bread of tears and given them tears to drink in full measure."  (Ps. 80:5) Has she cried tears this past year?  I'm sure.  The psalmist right before that verse says, "How long...?" I'm sure that this young girl is asking the same question...how long will my tears have to go on?  How long will I be in this situation?  Yet in that same psalm, the psalmist says, "But let your hand be on the man (or young girl), the son of man (or daughter) whom you have made strong for yourself! Then we shall not turn back from you; Give us life, and we will call upon your name!"

Then, "I relieved your shoulder of the burden; your hands were freed from the basket.  In distress you called, and I delivered you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder; I tested you in the waters of Meribah." (Ps. 81:6,7)  Again, a promise of hope that one day the burden will be lifted and they will all be "freed".  In their distress He says he hears them and will deliver them even though they have been tested.

No surprise, it was getting harder and harder to read, especially this next verse, but I powered through it, amazed that the Bible knows exactly what they are going through, "Give justice to the weak and the fatherless (so amazing that the word "fatherless" is included); maintain the "right of the afflicted and the destitute.  Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked." (Ps. 82: 3,4)  Wow.  He knows this girl feels weak, fatherless, afflicted, destitute, yet it is affirmed that justice will be done, her rights will be protected, she will be rescued and delivered.

Finally, I ended with this great encouragement from Ps. 84, "Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose heart are the highways to Zion.  As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs....They go from strength to strength..."  I searched the word "Baca" and images of a dry desert came up, a wasteland, cracked and without any source of water.  Yet the Bible says, "they make it a place of springs"!  What a fantastic image.  Nearly 6 years ago when another friend was going through a hard time, she had the gift of a baby.  This baby's name was taken from the word for a "myrtle tree" which was a symbol of hope and God's promises for the nation of Israel when they were in a time of slavery.  My daughter went over to take pictures of their newborn and wouldn't you know it, she looked down and saw some parched ground, but there, in the midst of the parched ground was a little bud of green, trying to come up through the dry land (it was early spring).  She took a picture of that symbol of hope and we gave it to them for one of their gifts.  That is what I'm talking about, the "place of springs".  Is this girl and her family in the Valley of Baca?  Yes, absolutely.  Are they being fed the "bread of tears"?  Yes, for sure.  Are they weak, fatherless, afflicted, needy and destitute?  Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes.  YET (one of my favourite words in the Bible), yet, God is there giving them a "place of springs".  They are going from strength to strength. And, even if this young girl doesn't see it yet, one day she will.  One day she will look back and remember what God has done and all the miracles God is doing for her and her family.  And if she doesn't remember I will be sure to remind her!

At that point, we pulled out the plant.  Without meaning to, we had bought her "a money tree"!  I thought that was kind of cool as it felt like another neat reminder that God will even provide the money they need.  As well, we didn't intend this either when it was picked out, but we bought her a plant that had three strong stems, all braided together!  What a neat picture of that Trinity - a cord of three strands is not easily broken.  God even helped us pick which plant to give her.  Now we are praying that she won't kill the plant!  I'm praying that this plant will supernaturally live for years and years and that it will grow to a plant that is higher than we ever expected.

So, that was the end of the "16 Year Old Bible Session/Party".  She is not very verbal, but she looked at me with big eyes.  I was encouraged by it, even if she wasn't!  I can only hope that she will maybe look back and maybe one thing from God's Word will stick in her head.