A Challenge from Darkness

In talking with a friend tonight, she mentioned that she sometimes feels she is filled with darkness. “Inside me, it’s all darkness. “ As I listened I wondered, in some fashion or other aren’t we all filled with darkness, at least until we are filled with light? We live in a fallen world, a world consumed with darkness, controlled by our sin nature…the not so good side of us. Most our lives, we spend cautiously avoiding the dark corners inside. We cover them up, hide them, pretend they are not there. At times they can consume us resulting in anger, depression, loneliness, addictive behaviors….the darkness alienates us and can become a cancer of the spirit. But we hide anyway.

So what changes the darkness to light? Truth. God. Light.

In the simplest terms, if I can face the blackness inside me and realize that I alone cannot change it, then I can begin the change. For most my life, I truly believed that I “walked in the light.” However in truth the darkness within me was at times all-consuming. It was not until I “walked with the Lord” that I truly allowed the light to fill me. It happened when I realized that I couldn’t remove the darkness, only God can. Then the darkness suddenly transforms into light! Part of the process is realizing that we do not have to be ashamed of the darkness; we all have it…all of us. If you think you don’t, take a flashlight and look in the corners. It’s there and God knows it. So how easy is that? He already knows, so let Him deal with it.

So here are a few more things I am working on with the women I meet with:

Challenge 1. Invest in friendships. Who are your friends and why? Are you truly invested? Do your friends challenge and sharpen you or are you playing it safe?

Challenge 2. Take 15 minutes a day to stop and take stock of the evidence of who you are (not what you do.) What evidence is there in the day that you are Godly, that you are kind, that you are the hands and feet of Jesus? The Core of Godliness is not merely doing what God wants, it is knowing God. In what way did you show that today?

Challenge 3. Stop before responding – do not respond in anger. Evaluate the response you are about to give and choose to……redirect, stop or continue. Be intentional in your words. Pray before you speak. Do your words glorify and represent God well?

Challenge 4. Reflect God’s love daily. Be willing to take the time, put forth the effort when God is choosing to use you. Have awareness to see opportunity and to respond to what God places in front of you.

Challenge 5. What am I putting first before my God? Be glad with what I have and let God be God.

Challenge 6. What attribute is God trying to show me of His character? He is so multi-faceted…..kind, loving, advocate, judge, father….be more appreciative of who our God is. What am I hiding (or think I am hiding) from God? What am I doing to love well and to offer hope?

If you intentionally focus on the six challenges above...it won't leave much room for the darkness.