For whatever reason, I found myself in the worst mood ever a few days ago. These dark moments always send me into a tailspin that depression will return, that I’ll never get better, and that I’ll forever be lost to myself. These feelings prompted the book Guarded by Christ because I needed to remember the critical data that I am always in the fortress of God’s care and guarded by peace, power, righteousness, hope, and the crucified life, no matter what my feelings say about it.
I went on a walk as evening fell all around me. As it grew darker and darker and the storm clouds gathered, two beautiful things happened:
First, I saw lightning bugs, one of the greatest pleasures of summer. The sharp realization came: you can only see them in darkness. As I watched the flashes of light above the green moss in the dark woods, I knew that God sends gifts you only receive in dark times.
And then, the sky opened and the rain fell. Far from home and worried about the thunder, I wished for someone to rescue me. At that moment, my husband intersected my path in our minivan as he returned from an errand. I slid into the dry car and wondered about the timing. Being rescued from the storm felt so wonderful and so supernatural, and I wouldn’t have known this rescue had I not first been in the storm.
There’s a gift here.There’s a rescue coming.
These things we only know in darkness.
Amen.