I promised you some sunshine today after my discouraging weekend. The sun came out for me even before the weekend was over. Shortly after I posted to my blog on Sunday morning, I got a call from a dear friend and brother in Christ, Jeff, who now lives in Valparaiso, Indiana. He and his wonderful wife, Jean, had read my blog post and decided to drive over with their son, Andrew, to my area (where they used to live) and he wanted to know if they could pick me up and take me to dinner. It took me less than a nanosecond to accept the offer. We had a terrific meal and reunion! I not only received the human contact I was missing up to that point in the weekend; I felt connected to the true Church once again. You see, Jeff doesn’t usually check his emails on Sunday, but he felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to check right after I sent my post to him. Then the Holy Spirit prompted Jean and him to plan a trip to brighten my weekend.
Jesus is the light of the world. (John 9:5) Jesus tells us that as His followers we are His light shining in the world. (Matthew 5:14) We usually think of that as meaning we are His light shining for those still living in spiritual darkness and that is true. But when we are obedient to the prompting of His Holy Spirit within us; we are also sunlight in the life of a brother or sister in Christ who is going through a storm, no matter how mild or severe it may be. As His true Church, we are one in Spirit; sharing each other’s burdens and victories.
Another of my favorite You Tube songs is Then Came the Morning, sung by Guy Penrod. It describes God’s sunlight following the darkest time in the history of the world. “They all walked away; nothing to say. They’d just lost their dearest friend. All that He said; now He was dead. So this was the way it would end. The dreams they had dreamed were not what they’d seemed now that He was dead and gone. The garden, the jail, the hammer, the nail; how could a night be so long? Then came the morning! Night turned into day. The stone was rolled away. Hope rose with the dawn. Then came the morning! Shadows vanished before the sun. Death had lost and life had won for morning had come.”
Whatever situation you find yourself in right now; I hope you feel the warmth of God’s sunshine and love as you read this.