the valley of vision

I've just started reading a book that has a collection of Puritan prayers and devotions. The opening prayer/poem expresses perfectly what I have been learning. I wanted to share it in hopes that it might encourage you as much as it has me. I've read it a few times and still am so thankful that God's ways are so different to man's, that when we are broken then that is when we are healed and whole in Him.

Lord, High and Holy, Meek and Lowly,
Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision,
where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights;
hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold thy glory.

Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.
Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from the deepest wells,
and the deeper the wells the brighter thy stars shine;
Let me find thy light in my darkness,
thy life in my death,
thy joy in my sorrow,
thy grace in my sin,
thy riches in my poverty,
thy glory in my valley

- taken from The Valley of Vision collected by Arthur Bennett