A Friend in the Time of Darkness
"When the darkness is giving my friends hell, I want to be there. I want to lean in because I know Jesus is already present and the darkness doesn’t have a chance." ~ The Whiskey Priest
It’s not that I have answers or know just the right thing to say when the darkness comes. It is the presence of Christ that makes all the difference. No one can make your pain go away – but a friend can be with you in the midst of your pain and, together, you can look for signs of Life. We suffer together (Compassion) that we may share in the dawning of the light together (Worship). Honesty requires that we share our pain and our joy, our fears and our hopes, so that nothing short of real life and light will do.
Jesus once said, “No longer do I call you servants…but I have called you friends.” (John 15:15) If the greatest friend of our souls who also said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you,” has promised to be with us, can we not watch and wait together? This is what I call Incarnational Christianity.
I’m not interested in spiritual formulas or magic elixirs that purport to eliminate the pain of our lives. They may mask the symptoms for a time but they never clear the way for true healing. What I desire in my own soul is taste Christ. It’s not just a new dimension of life but a whole different reality.
“Christianity is not for people who want to stay out of hell – it’s for people who have already been there.” Steve Brown
This pain, this darkness that has come upon you, can only be for your betterment. It means that the next step of your experiential journey into the heart of God could not have happened in the context of your current life. Whether by skullduggery or voluntary stepping out, God is removing whatever would have prevented the deepening of your joy.
Do not fight to get the old life back. Be still and trust the new thing that God is doing now. Let us watch and wait together – in the silence from which He breathes Life.
How important are soul friends in the time of darkness? I have found them to be unspeakably precious. True friends are few in such times, and they are normally not the ones you expect. The preciousness of these friends grows through life since only time and suffering make their love clear to your soul.
It’s not that I have answers or know just the right thing to say when the darkness comes. It is the presence of Christ that makes all the difference. No one can make your pain go away – but a friend can be with you in the midst of your pain and, together, you can look for signs of Life. We suffer together (Compassion) that we may share in the dawning of the light together (Worship). Honesty requires that we share our pain and our joy, our fears and our hopes, so that nothing short of real life and light will do.
Jesus once said, “No longer do I call you servants…but I have called you friends.” (John 15:15) If the greatest friend of our souls who also said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you,” has promised to be with us, can we not watch and wait together? This is what I call Incarnational Christianity.
I’m not interested in spiritual formulas or magic elixirs that purport to eliminate the pain of our lives. They may mask the symptoms for a time but they never clear the way for true healing. What I desire in my own soul is taste Christ. It’s not just a new dimension of life but a whole different reality.
“Christianity is not for people who want to stay out of hell – it’s for people who have already been there.” Steve Brown
This pain, this darkness that has come upon you, can only be for your betterment. It means that the next step of your experiential journey into the heart of God could not have happened in the context of your current life. Whether by skullduggery or voluntary stepping out, God is removing whatever would have prevented the deepening of your joy.
Do not fight to get the old life back. Be still and trust the new thing that God is doing now. Let us watch and wait together – in the silence from which He breathes Life.
How important are soul friends in the time of darkness? I have found them to be unspeakably precious. True friends are few in such times, and they are normally not the ones you expect. The preciousness of these friends grows through life since only time and suffering make their love clear to your soul.