I still live as if
I am LIVING IN THE DARK
when I am seeking to
FIND
PEACE
JOY
HOPE
and
LOVE
in
spaces and places
and in
people and things,
when it appears as if
THE LIGHT
has gone out.
I know better to not go
SEEKING
for what I already have
IN CHRIST,
but when my humanism starts to take over
I FORGET,
by allowing my
FEELINGS
and
what I don't SEE
to take over me.
BUT GOD then
ALWAYS opens
the eyes of my HEART,
leading me back like a lost sheep,
to
my
SHEPHERD.
And HE just did in this my wandering moment.
HE SHOWED up
through
writings of a beautiful precious woman
who almost lost her life at the age of 26,
from a massive brain stem stroke.
She may have lost so much of her physical self,
when this stroke came unannounced into her young life
as a wife and mother,
yet
because she is
A WOMAN AFTER GOD'S OWN HEART
her life
has become
A GIFT OFFERING,
as she pours out her
REAL STORY
filled with
REAL STRUGGLES
and filled with
REAL PAIN,
yet
ALWAYS FILLED
with a REAL GOD
who
gives her
REAL PEACE,
despite the ANXIETY ridden moments that may creep in
and
REAL JOY,
despite her personal circumstances that bring DESPAIR
and
REAL HOPE~
"Suffering is not the ed of my story. Pain and joy can coexist.
New life always begins with the end of an old life. My hope is not in any good gift but in the Giver of every good gift. God made me to do the hard things in teh good story HE is writing for my life"
*("Treasures In The Dark", Katherine Wolf, W Publishing Group, p. 8).
Oh the REAL HEART words of
KATHERINE WOLF
from her book,
who knows
DARK,
but EXPERIENCES LIGHT
because she is so yoked to
THE LIGHT
that never dies~"I will give you riches hidden in the darkness and things of great worth that are hidden in secret places. Then you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who calls you by name"
( Isaiah 45:3, the theme verse of Katherine's book).
For she KNOWS where her REAL LIFE is found~
"The darkest days of my suffering had taught me things that a pain-free life never could have. In the darkness, I experienced peace that transcends my circumstances,
I rediscovered my worth apart from my ability. I gave up the illusion that I was in control of much of anything.
None of that could have happened in a life lived exclusively in the light of favorable circumstances" *(p. xii).
LIGHT IN THE DARK.
Only GOD can ENLIGHTEN the DARK.
I thank you Katherine for being a vessel
for GOD to pour out HIS LIGHT
in you and through you.
So in my lostness this morning,
as I was being lead astray
by
seeking to find the ANSWERS
in my DARK places,
I was looking in the wrong place.
When actually I didn't want to
FEEL
the pain that the
DARK places have left behind.
Oh silly me.
As I was like that little white sheep who
wandered away for a split second.
Yet,
because of
GOD'S GRACE,
HE lead me back to
my
SHEPHERD.
For
JESUS,
"YOU ARE MY ALL IN ALL"
(listen to the song below)