Finding Light in the Dark Times...

                                 
                
                    Hope begins in the dark,
                the stubborn hope that if you
                          just show up and
                try to do the right thing, the
                          dawn will come.
                You wait and watch and work:
                          you don't give up.
                                                   -Anne Lamott


There is something about a lit candle that just speaks to my
spirit. Perhaps it's because it brings such hope in the darkest of times. And we all have dark times, times when only God can pierce the darkness. Also, my word for 2016 was "light," so all year long I have been on the lookout for hope that begins in the dark. God is faithful, and I trust and know that in hard, hard times, light and the dawn will surely come.

It has been super rainy and dark these fall days in Spokane, and all of my outdoor lanterns and white lights sparkle and remind me to choose JOY! We aren't talking a little rain here, but buckets and buckets of water, day-after-day. You can hear folks at the grocery store tease about Noah and the Arc. It rained, then, for forty days and nights. While things aren't quite that wet here, some folks have struggled not to have a gloomy attitude.

After all, the ground here is fully saturated, and we are seldom seeing the sun. So my answer is to light all of the candles, inside and out. 

Let's just bring in the light, let's not let a little sad weather dictate our happiness.

I can't control the rain, but I can certainly learn how to dance in it.

The past week saturated my heart and soul. I never imagined that doing a TEDx would bring so many wonderful and caring people into my life. So many real conversations. Very real and at times not so easy.

Yet I am finding once again that what brings light into any situation, and what cuts through the darkest hard, is God's light that never fails. His presence brings calm in the midst of the craziest of storms. So while I have great peace right now, and somehow a sense of completion, I am taking time for morning prayer and asking God to please hold me close. Please give me strength.

I am asking Him to: 
*Help me see and do His will. 
*Help me to support those I love and care about. 
*Help me to bring light to others in the simplest of ways.
*Heal my heart and the hearts of so many others, precious souls, 
  His dear ones. 
*Heal the bodies of my dear friends Vicky Westra and Joe Feryn.      

Bert is on my prayer list, too, and on my heart a lot these days.
Just being in my dear hubby's presence gives me such a sense 
of  peace. We are having conversations that warm my
soul and light up my life in any darkness.

Somehow we both know that we are in a chapter of our lives with some great joys and also great uncertainties. Bert's health is a bit precarious and tentative. We take one day at a time and have the deepest sense of gratitude for every day together. He is my beloved and I am his and God is our glue, our portion, and our hope, no matter what.

As Bert always says, with a huge smile on his face, "You know, my dearest darling, I will always be in your heart." It makes me cry when he says that, like he knows a secret that is just being revealed to me. So in the evenings we sit by the fire and talk and reminisce.
We say everything that matters to each other...every day.

No matter how dark it is outside, true love brings light, a light so strong it pierces the darkness.  We just show up knowing that no matter what, the dawn will come.

That's God's promise to us.

So today, no matter how hard and dark things may be for you, may
you know in your deepest heart of hearts that God is there.
He is the great comforter when we are scared, He is our hope in
times of great uncertainty. He is our rock, when we feel alone and
frightened, He is our sustainer when we get bad news or feel frightened about what lies ahead. He brings us hope in the hardest hard and a peace that passes all understanding.

Knowing what God can do, I am convicted to say (and sing:) 
       "This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine!"

May you know that He holds you in the palm of His Almighty hand! May you know in your deepest heart-of-hearts that His light can pierce whatever darkness is in your life.

God bless!
Love, Linda