FROM: Banbury, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
ABOUT ME: Living the highs and lows of life in the adventurous pursuit of God Himself and of who I'm meant to be as the Bride of Christ.
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Monday, October 25, 2010,5:37 p.m.
SHADES OF GREY
I listened to a few testimonies last night from dear friends who have been through very dark times in their lives and have received God’s healing and hand of rescue. They now live different lives. Not necessarily perfect lives, but different.
It made me wonder what testimony each of them would have given if, last night, they had been called to testify and yet were still in their dark hour. Some of them found God in the midst of the darkness and He brought them out of it. Some of them knew God before they entered it. What would these latter, especially, have shared as their words of encouragement or hope in the midst of their experiences? Would they have had any?
What would a group of Believers do if one of their number stood up and shared as their testimony, “I am in the middle of the darkest night my soul has ever seen. I cannot change anything. I have not seen God yet pull me out of it. I know He exists, I know He loves me, deeply, and I know that this is still where I sit.” I wonder. I wonder, sometimes, if we as Christians can have compassion on those in the worst of the dark night, rejoice with the testimonies of deliverance, and yet not know what to do for those who are in the in-between times. Those who know God and are still mired in darkness.
I have no definitive answers. But I will hazard a very educated guess that there are many amongst our number who are bravely fighting and yet quietly dying. Those who cannot jump up when the open call is given to testify of their black-to-white experience because they still live in too many shades of grey.
I have only one thought about what is needed for these precious ones, and that is love. The simple answer. The complex gift. Love. Love enough to challenge destructive behaviours. Love enough to laud infinitesimal victories. Love enough to walk through the darkness together. Love enough to simply listen and not need to find the answers.
Love enough to stay.
In the darkest night, perhaps that is the victorious testimony. There is Love. Love Who challenges destructive behaviours. Love Who lauds infinitesimal victories. Love Who walks through the darkness together. Love Who simply listens, even when He has all the answers.
Love Who stays.
It made me wonder what testimony each of them would have given if, last night, they had been called to testify and yet were still in their dark hour. Some of them found God in the midst of the darkness and He brought them out of it. Some of them knew God before they entered it. What would these latter, especially, have shared as their words of encouragement or hope in the midst of their experiences? Would they have had any?
What would a group of Believers do if one of their number stood up and shared as their testimony, “I am in the middle of the darkest night my soul has ever seen. I cannot change anything. I have not seen God yet pull me out of it. I know He exists, I know He loves me, deeply, and I know that this is still where I sit.” I wonder. I wonder, sometimes, if we as Christians can have compassion on those in the worst of the dark night, rejoice with the testimonies of deliverance, and yet not know what to do for those who are in the in-between times. Those who know God and are still mired in darkness.
I have no definitive answers. But I will hazard a very educated guess that there are many amongst our number who are bravely fighting and yet quietly dying. Those who cannot jump up when the open call is given to testify of their black-to-white experience because they still live in too many shades of grey.
I have only one thought about what is needed for these precious ones, and that is love. The simple answer. The complex gift. Love. Love enough to challenge destructive behaviours. Love enough to laud infinitesimal victories. Love enough to walk through the darkness together. Love enough to simply listen and not need to find the answers.
Love enough to stay.
In the darkest night, perhaps that is the victorious testimony. There is Love. Love Who challenges destructive behaviours. Love Who lauds infinitesimal victories. Love Who walks through the darkness together. Love Who simply listens, even when He has all the answers.
Love Who stays.
