Back in the days when my children were small, an urgent voice would often wake me out of a dead sleep at night:
“Mom!”
I’d jolt up, wondering what emergency brought my 5 year old daughter into the room to wake up her poor, exhausted mother. Was she sick? Was the house on fire?
“I have to go to the bathroom.”
I wanted so badly to say, “You woke me up for this?” Instead, I’d zip my lip, crowbar myself out of bed, and stagger down the hall to turn on the bathroom light. I knew Camilla wanted the security of my presence. She also wanted me to turn on that light because she was scared of the dark.
I don’t like the darkness either.
We recently had a gloomy rain week. The sun didn’t come out even once, and by the third day, I was longing for light. Even without rain, dark days come. Days when depression overwhelms, insecurity knocks, or doubt trips us up.
Jesus gives us a promise of hope for dark days:
Our Savior brings the blessings of light:
- Light dispels darkness: John explained it like this: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:5) In the physical world, light always triumphs. Flip on a light switch at night, and darkness disappears.
- Light brings joy: Don’t you feel a small surge of delight when you light a candle or see pretty Christmas lights?
- Light illumines our path: No one drives a car on a dark night without turning headlights on. We need light to show us our way.
We have the promise of light as long as we stick to our Savior.
Do you ever feel like you’re in the dark? Tight finances, sick kids, and job stress can bring on the clouds. The holidays can be hard for those who experienced loss this year. We have a sure promise from our Savior: “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Let’s stay close to the Light with these simple steps:
Call on Him
Call on Jesus. Nothing delights Him more than hearing your simplest prayer: “Jesus, come and be my light.”
Trust in Him
Sometimes the darkness seems overwhelming, yet Jesus always shines enough light on our path to show us the next step. If you’re discouraged, your next step might be to get out of bed, to step out into the sunshine, or to reach for your bible to see what God will speak to your heart. Trust Jesus and take that step.
Rest in Him
What about the times when darkness and discouragement don’t seem to lift? Keep resting in Jesus. He’ll keep your lamp burning, and sooner or later He’ll turn you’re your darkness into light. (Psalm 18:28)
Stay close to Him
As you go about your day, remember that Jesus is close by. Lift up a prayer to Him as you do your work. Thank Him for the little blessings you see. And when problems come up, ask for His help.
Even on dark days, we have a reason to smile if we stick close to Jesus. We have hope. The Light of the World dispels darkness, brings joy, and illumines our path.
Now it’s your turn: How do you find hope on the hard days? How have you experienced Jesus as Light of the World?
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Linking up with Holly Barrett’s Testimony Tuesday, Kelly Balarie’s RaRaLinkup, Jennifer Dukes Lee’s Tell His Story, Holley Gerth’s Coffee for your Heart, and Arabah Joy’s Grace and Truth. Check out these communities for more encouragement.
Betsy
This is such a great reminder of how close God is to us even when we cannot see or feel him. Thanks.
That’s what I thought, Jenny. Sometimes we don’t SEE His Light, but it’s there, shining on us!
When you need a promise of hope stick to the light of the world. Beautiful truth to begin my day with. I am not good when there are extended days of gray skies and just like you, I crave sun but more so I crave a light to dispel the darkness. Thank you for your words this morning.
May His light shine around you and light your heart, Mary, no matter what the weather, no matter the shorter days of sunlight! Blessings on your week, friend.
This sheds some light for my day ahead, Betsy! Thank you : )
We need all the light we can get, don’t you think, Bethany!
I love these scriptures about light. It’s true that a series of gloomy, cloudy days can affect our mood. Sometimes it’s easy to let the gloom get to you, but we are able to have that light in all situations if we will just turn to Him. These scriptures are a great tool for those times! Thanks, Betsy:)
Thank you, Kristine. May His light shine bright in your heart this week!
I do struggle at this time of year with the SHORT days and early darkness. Thanks for giving us Scripture as a reminder that even after all the white twinkly lights are back in the attic, we have Jesus the light of the world to lighten our darkness. Always very thankful, Betsy, when I find your words (and friendly face) in a link up!
Thanks for the encouragement, Michele. Darker days get to me too! But He shines his lovely light on us always.
Beautiful message, Betsy.
My prayer is to walk in the light of our Lord Jesus.
I’m right there with you, Sandy.
Focusing on Jesus is the only way to get through the dark times, I cannot imagine how I would have survived them without His everlasting Hope.
Amen, Sarah. His light brightens our darkest days. May He renew your hope always.
I so identify with that waking in the middle of the night! So grateful there is no darkness with God. “Darkness is as light to you.” Psalm 139.
Remember those days? I’m guessing the night waking is less frequent for you now, but it still happens, right? 🙂
Hi Betsy … after a string of beautiful days, a dark and gray day has descended. I’ll be lighting the tree and the candles in the windows extra early today … and remembering the Light of the world as I go about my tasks. Thanks for the encouragment!
Hope you enjoy those tree lights and candles. They do add joy and remind us of the Light of the World!
Thanks for your encouraging words, Betsy. Just the awareness of God’s presence (Immanuel, God With Us) is such a comfort. I immediately thought of these words from one of my favourite Advent songs:
O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
Oh Jeannie, I LOVE that sound. Yes, it’s true, He comes to cheer our spirits with His coming. Thank you for that. 🙂
What a hope-filled post, Betsy! I love light, and I love scriptures that refer to it. On my darker days, or when I’m not seeing something clearly, I often find myself praying Psalm 43:3 … “Send Your light and Your truth; let them lead me.” Blessings to you today!
That’s a beautiful scripture, Lois. Thanks so much for sharing it.
Betsy, I see God led us in similar directions with our posts today. How fun!
My boys have awakened me out of a dead sleep at night, too. 🙂
Finding hope on the hard days is sometimes HARD. Because I’m weary and discouraged. But, when I spend time in God’s word, when I pray for others facing struggles, it helps realign my perspective, and gives me what I need to keep moving forward, one step at a time.
I think he’s speaking to lots of people about LIGHT this season, Jeanne, because I saw more than one post. He is light! And He speaks!
Oh Betsy, this is such a timely post for me. And yes, my four-year-old still does that. 😉 You and I had similar thoughts this week, as I wrote about Light also. Isn’t it amazing how God puts similar messages on multiple hearts? What I always love about your writing is you bring me back to the truth of his Word. So powerful. Thank you, friend.
You did the same thing this week, Abby, brought me back to the truth of that Peter passage, and the storm that DIDN’T calm down! Yes, God definitely put a similar message on our hearts, friend. Love you.
What a beautiful post for the Advent season of waiting for the Light to come to the world, to come to our hearts. I love your reminder to call on Him: “Jesus, come and be my light.”
your neighbor at Tell His Story
Thank you, Constance. He is, indeed, our light! I’m praying that prayer all over again. Blessings.
Can’t even imagine when we are in glory and He is the Light of heaven. So thankful for eyes to see Him as the Light of the world…even on the dark days. Lovely post, Betsy. Thanks for sharing. ((Hug))
Oh, forgot to mention…coincidentally, these are some of the verses I read in my quiet time this morning: “…My light will shine for you just a little longer. Walk in the light while you can, so the darkness will not overtake you. Those who walk in the darkness cannot see where they are going. Put your trust in the light while there is still time; then you will become children of the light.” ~ John 13:35-36 🙂
Those are beautiful verses, thanks so much for sharing them with us. May He open our eyes to see more of His light. Hugs right back to you!
Thank you Betsy, this is just exactly what I need to read today 🙂
May He bless you with lots of light this Advent season, Victoria.
Betsy,
Love the image of the candle — how pretty! What beautiful words to remind us that God shines through any darkness that we experience in this world — and there will be a lot. But he reminds us that he will overcome the word.
Thanks Valerie, I love that candle too, from my coffee table at home back in Turkey. I gather those berries every fall. 🙂 Yes, He always overcomes.
Oh, I love the light so much too! What a wonder that Jesus chose Light as one of the analogies of who He is. I’m all for dispelling the darkness everywhere we go! Thanks for this, Betsy. May we both see lots of Light today!
Amen, Lisa, let’s stick to the light. keep our eyes open to see more of it!
So thankful for our hope in the light of Christ! Hallelujah! I actually was also speaking to someone about this yesterday. Light is powerful. Let us trust in Him- that His light is more powerful than darkness.
Amen, Kortney. I’ve never turned on a light and seen the dark overpower it, have you?
My daughter used to do this to me ALL THE TIME; wake me up in the middle of the night to tell me she had to go to the bathroom, when she had to walk right past it to get to me :). Thankfully as she has gotten older this habit has stopped.
Light and Being Still seem to be a common theme I am reading today. God must be trying to tell me something 😉
Glad your daughter stopped that habit. One night I finally said, “You know, you CAN go in there yourself,” and it worked! She stopped waking me up. Yes, I’ve been reading a lot around the web about light too.
Betsy,
What a promise…”Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness…” Even on my darkest of days, Christ’s light is always there breaking through. He never gives up until my path is lit again. What a wonderful Savior. I loved your reminder, that if we are struggling, all we have to do is ask. He is faithful to answer his children. Thanks for this message of hope.
Blessings,
Bev
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