My heart exploded with joy when this next guest said “yes” to my Stories of Hope invite. A young home-school mom of four, worship leader, and business owner, She has learned a thing or two about looking for hope in dark places. And I know this because she is my daughter.
Evelyn Sherwood
I have watched her struggle until she was bone-tired from broken relationships, life-threatening illnesses, the loss of loved ones, and still lean in hard to God’s heart to find hope. Her words today are a vulnerable, yet powerful reminder of who our God is when life feels dark.
I am not a fan of short days and long nights. I prefer not to watch the news due to my tendencies towards fear. As a mother of children still at home, it is hard for me to see the darkness creeping in and not feel worry for the future. As the days get colder and dimmer, I fight the urge to focus on the enclosing night. I peer out, and the dark seems so deep and impenetrable.
How easy it would be to simply close my curtains, turn on the lights, start a fire, and snuggle up in the safety of my well-lit home.
Darkness brings with it fear of the unknown. What is lurking around this corner? What is beyond my line of sight? No wonder so many Worship songs speak of the Light overcoming the dark. How quickly I lose sight and need to be reminded of who my God is and who I am in Him. My heart cries out to be reminded.
As my eyes strain to see through the dark, I hear the gentle whisper of my Jesus friend as He invites me to come and sit with Him, to abide, to trust. He reminds me darkness can not be overcome by more darkness.
In Him was life, and that life was the lights of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:4-5 (NIV)
Weapons or words cannot chase it away. The only thing strong enough to defeat the darkness is light. Turn on the light in a room, and the darkness runs. Even tiny bulbs on a strand of Christmas lights can light my whole living room. One candle can give off enough light to eat by.
I have come as a light to shine in this dark world so that all who put their trust in me will no longer remain in the dark.
John 12:46 (NIV)
But the light we have been given is no tiny Christmas bulb. It is a darkness-destroying, night-shattering light. It is brilliant, exploding with power and surging with victory. In this Light, there is no shadow, shift, or variation.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation of shadow due to change.
James 1:17 (ESV)
Dear brothers and sisters, the Light stepped into the darkness, and the darkness could not overcome it! Our Heavenly Father is the Father of light in whom there is no changing. Jesus said if we are in Him, He is in us, and we are one.
Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, ‘I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness because you will have the light to lead you.
John 8:12 (NIV)
The darkness has no claim on Jesus; it has no place in Him. Jesus is the light of the world. His very presence chases away the darkness. Children of God, we were once lost in darkness but are now children of the Light. May we stay in the vine, the Light of the World, and watch Him dispel the darkness. May we watch it flee.
Our job as Christ-bearers is not to dispel the darkness but to be the light.
You are the light of the world, like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.
Matthew 5:14 (NIV)
4 Responses
Normally, I read Evelyn’s blogs immediately, this time for the correct reason I just read it. I was scheduled for major back surgery tomorrow but because there is no one to provide care for me when I return home, I have opted to ask for Father to miraculously heal me. No better persons to ask to pray with me than my sister-in-law and her daughter. Thank you Stephanie
Praying with you and for you, Uncle David.