“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2:8-9‬ ‭NIV‬‬

As I’m sure you’ve noticed from previous posts, I love the coming and going of the days and nights. I love the effect of the light as sun and moon do their daily do-si-do. Light is amazing. It’s inspiring. It has the capacity to make anything beautiful.

So why do we have such a strong tendency to keep things in the dark? Why do we take our pain and fear and heartache and shove them into deep dark corners, far from the prying eyes of those we love?

People everywhere do it all the time. That doesn’t mean we have to throw all our garbage out for display on the front lawn. It just means that we must have the courage to be real. Life is hard and we will all struggle. That fact has been made painfully clear all throughout the Bible.

However, allowing those God puts in our lives to see us as we really are, in joy, in pain, and all other states of humanity, is one of the fundamental avenues God uses to help us tolerate all those turns of emotion. How can they do His work if we deny them the access to our hearts and minds? Ultimately, we are depriving ourselves of His blessings.

Our instinct is to run from pain, all pain. It scares us, intimidate us, controls us, and can destroy us. But we, as followers of Christ and true believers, have the gift of the Holy Spirit.

It is indeed a precious gift. It provides comfort, guidance, courage, endurance, and strength. It makes pain yet another worldly circumstance during which we can have peace. We can learn to be okay, even when we are definitely NOT okay.

It is our faith in Christ as our savior which make circumstances and events of this world have no bearing on our eternity. It is also that same faith which gives us the light and fire in our souls to do good in the world around us.

When we use our lives to bless and show love to those God brings into our path, we are bringing the peace of God’s light and the warmth of His love to their lives. That light and love is what will help people you’d never expect, all because you were willing to make time to share it.

Be brave. Give love. Make time. Make the most of the light you’ve been given.

“Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”
‭‭Galatians‬ ‭6:10‬ ‭NIV‬‬