Arise and ShinePavyzdys

Light in the Darkness I don’t know about you, but I want to be a person who brings hope to others. I want to be full of joy and be a bright shining light for Jesus. But some days it feels too hard to see the light through dark circumstances. Even though I know God calls me to place my fears, worries, and questions on His shoulders and He promises to give me rest, I wrestle with a darkness in my heart and mind. John 1:4–5 tells us this about Jesus: “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” In other words, Jesus is the light of the world. We may feel overwhelmed by darkness, but it will never overcome us because Jesus’s light is in us and around us. All the negative or hard things you see on your phone do not have a hold on you. The negativity that may surround you at work cannot get in the way of God’s plan for your life. The darkness you see as you go about your day will not overcome you because of the power that is simply in Jesus’s name. Darkness has a way of telling us that we are stuck. It wants us to feel like it controls us; but the truth is, it doesn’t. We have the power to choose to let the darkness control us or take control of it ourselves with God’s help. The enemy wants us to believe the lie that there can’t be light amid darkness. Satan doesn’t want us to have the hope that Jesus brings us. Discovering how to be the light of Christ is a process, but it’s a process you are more than capable of. You are right where you need to be at this moment, and He is with you. Lord, I want to know You more. I want to understand Your heart for me, for others, and for this world. What is an area of my life You are calling me to seek more of You in? Help me fight the lies of the enemy that want to distract me from You. Help me to draw closer to You so that Your light shines through me. Amen.