"Light Arising, In the Darkness"

     The son of Hugh Vickery, one of my dear Orange Moon friends, suffered a cycling accident this week.  Bladen underwent surgery yesterday for a broken leg, and will be operated on again for a shoulder injury.  Your prayers will be greatly appreciated, and will surely benefit Bladen's recovery and rehabilitation.

    I am reminded of my days as a young man, and the injuries experienced during athletic endeavors.  Full of vim and vigor during those times, I chafed at the limitations of torn knee cartilage, severely sprained ankles, shoulder separations, and other calamities that gradually illuminated the realities of my human frailty and mortality.  Certainly I wouldn't want to relive those painful experiences, and given a journey to the past in a time machine, I might even attempt to alter the circumstances that led to my physical mishaps.  As I look back, however, the heart and hand of God so obviously allowed (at the very least) the injuries I experienced for good purposes that I don't think I would change the past if I could.  I can't say that I know specifically all the illumination about God, life, and truth I discovered in the difficulties.  However, I know that the Light shined, and continues to shine in that which seemed to be enshouded with darkness.

   "Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness - He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous" (Psalm 112:4).

   I trust that Bladen will discover the Light of the Lord Jesus Christ that so beautifully and increasingly shines in the darkness of our lives as we trust Him.  Presently, I suspect this to be a great challenge as he looks ahead to months of regaining normalcy in his body and life.  May the Lord greatly encourage Bladen's heart with hope, and with the assurance that his Heavenly Father anticipates the falls of our lives, and prepares to lift our hearts higher than could happen without descents into difficulty.  How will this take place in Bladen's life?  He may not yet know, but let us pray that he will, and that one day, like myself, he will look back with assurance that light greatly arose in the darkness, revealing the God so "gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous."

"I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry.  He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.  And He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God."

(Psalm 40:1-3)

Weekly Memory Verse

   By one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.

(Hebrews 10:14)

    

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