When we experience being forsaken by God, strength and courage of soul are developed.

“After this came the state of Forsakenness of God and so surrounded my soul that it cried: ‘Welcome, blessed Forsaken-ness! . . . You bring me unaccustomed joy and inconceivable wonders and sweetness beyond what I can bear.  But Lord, You must take this sweetness from me and leave me only Forsaken-ness.  Well for me, that after the transformation of love, gall has been changed into honey in the palate of my soul . . .

"Now is God marvelous to me and His Forsaken-ness better even than Himself!  . . . Ah! Blessed Forsaken-ness!  You strengthen my will in suffering . .  . When You leave me, O God, it is a high and heavenly courage Your absence gives me.' "


Mechthild of Magdeburg
13th century German mystic

Photos: Snags in an old burn; Snowy Range, WY; August 22, 2014