[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":4},["ShallowReactive",2],{"reading-0818":3},"AUGUST 18\nAlone (Deut. 32:12).\r\nThe hill was steep, but cheered along the way By converse sweet, I mounted on the thought  That so it might be till the height was reached; But suddenly a narrow winding path\r\nAppeared, and then the Master said, \"My child, Here thou wilt safest walk with Me alone.\"\r\nI trembled, yet my heart's deep trust replied, \"So be it, Lord.\" He took my feeble hand\r\nIn His, accepting thus my will to yield Him All, and to find all in Him.\r\nOne long, dark moment,\r\nAnd no friend I saw, save Jesus only.\r\nBut oh! so tenderly He led me on\r\nAnd up, and spoke to me such words of cheer, Such secret whisperings of His wondrous love, That soon I told Him all my grief and fear,\r\nAnd leaned on His strong arm confidingly.\r\nAnd then I found my footsteps quickened,\r\nAnd light ineffable, the rugged way\r\nIllumined, such light as only can be seen In close companionship with God.\r\nA little while, and we shall meet again\r\nThe loved and lost; but in the rapturous joy   Of greetings, such as here we cannot know, And happy song, and heavenly embraces,    And tender recollections rushing back\r\nOf pilgrim life, methinks one memory\r\nMore dear and sacred than the rest, shall rise\r\nAnd we who gather in the golden streets,\r\nShall oft be stirred to speak with grateful love Of that dark daywhen Jesus bade us climb    Some narrow steep, leaning on Him alone.\r\n\"There is no high hill but beside some deep valley. There is no birth without a pang.\" --Don Crawford",1783499793310]