There is not a person who has lived, is living, or will live that will not go through a least one dark time in their lives. Dark times are a given. I have lived long enough to see it in others lives and my own. And Jesus said, "In this world you will have tribulation (trouble)." But Jesus doesn't leave us in the darkness of trouble. He continues by saying, "But, take heart, I have overcome the world." Praise God for the hope of Jesus and the Light He brings into the world to dispel the darkness.
Since we know the dark times and troubles are coming, what should we do to prepare for them. I was not always at the point of knowing the light of God's written Word. Although now I know that God chose me before the foundation of the world and I made a profession of faith at 5 years old at a small Bible Church where my folks sent me, from that point on the denomination in which I was raised fell away from God and His Word. My husband's church had also become very liberal. Being raised in that situation we actually were unaware of the lack of biblical teaching and preaching. Still, the Holy Spirit made us more and more restless to the fact that something was missing in our spiritual lives. To make a long story short, the Lord of all the earth moved us to Jackson, MS to care for my parents in their old age and one of their friends invited us to attend their church, Alta Woods PCA Church. Although not our "brand" of Presbyterian church we attended. There are just no human words to properly explain the joy I experienced that day to see Bibles in the peoples' hands as they followed along as the Pastor was reading it from the pulpit, to hear the Pastor preach about what he had read, to realize they believed what they were reading and hearing. That is when the light first penetrated my heart and I knew what was missing in my spiritual life--the written Word of God illumined by the Light of the World, Jesus.
Where did God take me from there? In my next posting I will share how God took me along the path of learning His Word and how it has become the source of my living and being.
