“Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; When I fall, I will arise; When I sit in darkness, The Lord will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, Because I have sinned against Him, Until He pleads my case And executes justice for me. He will bring me forth to the light; I will see His righteousness.”Micah 7:8-9 NKJV
This week, we drove to Oklahoma from Colorado to visit my grandma who recently moved from California. There was one of two options to choose from – Drive through constantly flat Kansas, or through New Mexico and Texas. We chose the second route… During the drive, there was a decent rain storm and there were many moments that the rain was coming down so hard, the car in front of you wasn’t very visible. The windshields couldn’t swipe fast enough to beat the amount of rain coming down but it didn’t last too long. All you could do (to prevent from panicking about lack of vision) was to focus on the road directly in front of the car. That is all you could do, and as long as you did, you could drive safely and get to where you need to be. Yes, we had to drive slower and be more careful, but all-in-all we made it to our hotel safely.
In the midst of that storm, the immediate waves of stress, tension, and anxiety crashed against any thought pattern I had and made me unable to focus on anything else. It was as if for that moment, that was the only thing that existed. It was dark in the middle of the day, the clouds were thick enough to completely block any remnants of mountains, the sun, or anything in the distance. And as we drove, the rain started to slow and eventually the clouds weren’t so gray. After getting used to the sound of the rain hitting the car, the silence was loud to me, but in a way that I recognized as peace.
After some time passed, I saw one patch of land far off in the distance that was shining so bright, but the rest of the land was guarded by so many clouds that it was as if everything else was under the shade of a giant tree. Except I didn’t realize that the sun was so bright, I just thought the shade we were used to was as bright as it would get. Only then did I realize the thickness of those clouds… We kept driving and we were in the direct view of the sun rays that peered through the thick storm clouds. It was so beautiful and I thought it was so amazing that clouds could block the sun from shining. Obviously I knew this prior and didn’t think anything of it but it just made me think about the Lord.
There are so many thoughts raised in my mind of ways this reflects our relationship with Christ and our lives on this earth. We are aware of the fact that in seasons, we will experience darkness, and from the knowledge we try to prepare ourselves with ways we would handle it. Just until you realize the unexpected waves of stress, tension, and anxiety crashed against any plan you set to live out in this case – except it doesn’t work and now you feel frozen. And it all becomes too much to grasp in your finite mind that in order to move forward, you have to only focus on the step in front of you and nothing farther. And sometimes you get used to the darkness and don’t realize the joy of the Lord in His Word and walking in truth – that you just go through the motions.. Only to realize that the Lord is so much brighter, and after that dark season that discouragement or hopelessness may have existed for a time, God reveals just how bright and holy He is in a certain area of your life, and you are amazed by it. Not because you were never aware of His goodness before, but because you actually recognized how good He is and in such a dark time, it affected you more. That is what I saw through this storm and the rays of sun that shined through the dark, heavy clouds during our roadtrip, and I am thankful the Lord reminds me of these things in such “basic, simple” (yet very intricate and astonishing) ways…
“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.”Ephesians 5:8-10 NKJV
Christian Wife And Mama 