What Happens In The Dark

I need this message I am about to share. A couple weeks ago I posted a blog titled “Even, If Not” and you can probably call this a follow up to that post. Here we go.

I really enjoy pillow talk. You know… when women get together late at night, with the lights dim, and get really vulnerable with each other. Maybe this happens at a retreat before everyone turns in for the night, or maybe it’s just a night when you and your friends are sitting on the couch with fuzzy blankets (that’s what happens at my house!). I love these conversations. I love the beauty in the openness that happens, and the bond and trust that is formed and deepened. Sometimes what is shared are the great things going on, and sometimes what is shared is the struggle and heart break. And let me tell you that “pillow talk” is code for what is shared here stays here.

What I tell you in the dark, speak in the light.
Matthew 10:27

I came across this verse recently and needed to look into it more. Why would Jesus tell His followers to speak in the light what He told them in the dark? This verse could read what I tell you in private, proclaim from the rooftops, but everyone knows that what is said in private, like during pillow talk, should not be shared. As the verse continues it says what you hear in your ear, preach on the housetops. Housetops, which were flat, were often used by criers and heralds when they gave their announcements. God is telling us here that what He speaks to us in private, He wants us to share and not keep it to ourselves. He wants us to speak the truth of who He reveals himself to be. He doesn’t want to be hidden.

I want to share with you my first impression of this verse. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the light. I want to suggest that the word dark can also relate to hard times in our lives that we refer to as “dark”. It may seem odd, but it is during the dark times that often I have gotten to know more about God’s character than I have in the good times. These are the times that I have really seen how deep His love is for His children, how faithful He is, and how true His word is. It is during the dark times, when I have experienced His loving, and comforting arms. Over the past year or so, many of you have read how I have experienced this during some difficult days.

“Do Not Hold On To Me”

When things are going well, I don’t want to forget or stop sharing His truths that shined in the dark. I need this message. I think that when things are going well, I can begin to get comfortable in my life. God is good, and everyone knows the feeling of wanting to go for a drive, throw the windows down, and sing at the top of your lungs. In the light, it can be so easy to want to move forward and leave the past in the past. But His message is to remember the truths of what He spoke during the dark, and to share them. It was during a dark time, a time of mourning and confusion, that Jesus rose from the dead. Mary was weeping when Jesus came to her alive and said, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

I posted this blog at night for reason. It is dark out. It’s time to get vulnerable. So turn out the lights. Listen. Hear and receive what He has to say. Shout it from the rooftops.

Here is what He has spoken to me in the darkness…what has He whispered to you? Share it #inthelight

My love runs deeper than you can ever imagine.
My faithfulness is greater than you can comprehend.
You are wonderfully and beautifully made.
What happened was not to harm you.
Let me be your strength.
Let me be your security.
My plans for you are good.
I love you.
Don’t hold on to me in the dark, share who I am in the light.