Darkness

The darkness of the soul. A stage of the christian journey no one wants. A stage that most assuredly happens to us all. The times where God feels removed, distant from us and we feel alone in a world of devils and temptation. Gos is most assuredly near us the entire time, but we feel withdrawn. In this time we can do one of two things. 1. We can patiently wait and persevere through the darkness knowing that God is molding us, forming us into a person who will be more intimate with Him. It is a hard path, but we know we will reach the light again and God will forge us into a stronger person in HIm. 2. We can run to the false lights we see thinking they will fulfill us or help us see again. All the time these false lights flicker out rapidly and we may be off the path and cannot find our way. We could still seek the false lights and get further and further away from the path less travelled. Choosing this option could cause us to live a defeated life with the joy sucked out of us. I think this is the point when many people become nominal christians. They are saved, yet they are allowing sin to hold them back and decide it is too hard to fight back to the intimacy they long for. The good news is that no matter how far we get off the path, God is constantly trying to bring us back. Too many times we choose the second option over and over until our lives seem so distant from God, that if it wasnt for his Grace, we wouldnt know where we are or who we are anymore. This grace pulls back to him and soon, soon, we will be back in the light of His Glory. We must sit patiently and let Him guide us through scriptures and prayer no matter how distant God feels from us. He is not gone, he is only wanting us to grow and be forged in the fires of the darkness. This may not be a short journey, and it will most assuredly be tough, but if we fight for joy, if we persevere through this darkness....we will be refreshed by the light of our Lord. The decision is: Do we choose to persevere? or Do we choose to chase the false lights? If we choose to persevere, i am 100 percent certain that this is the stage in our life that God moves in us to mold us, to revolutionize our soul and make us into a stronger person of faith who can change the world. We must decide if it is worth it to become a true and valiant servant of Christ or give up into a life of difficulty.