Let's Let There Be Light

by Andrea Noles

Every night it’s the same routine.

My 20 month old makes his climb up the stairs, in anticipation of his bath and bedtime story. He typically makes it halfway up, then turns to me slowly and whispers, “ssssh!”

He continues his trek to the top and toddles toward our dark playroom. He steps cautiously closer to the darkness and his “ssssh,” again echoes in my ear.
Suddenly he screams, “light, light, light,” and motions for me to flip the switch.
He knows exactly where it is, but his little fingers just can’t quite reach.

It struck me one particular night that the darkness never stops him, it just makes him pause and turn to me for help.

It’s a fun momma game/ritual that I’ve come to anticipate.
But it wasn’t until recently I started to see something more in all this.

I ran into a verse that struck a light inside my soul and pulled me into a greater story that’s already been told.

1 Thessalonians 5:5 declares something spectacular about my children and about us as believers.

“You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or the darkness.”

My personal journey (up the stairs) of my life has been one full of light and darkness. I can look back and see all the times my Father has been there, ready and waiting for me to pause, so he can flip the switch and bring me back into his marvelous light.

I often wonder how many times he’s rescued me without my knowing. How many times he’s saved me from something I thought was better than his best?

Light has always been part of his preparation. It was his first answer to creations call for glory and beauty as darkness was over the face of the deep. And from the beginning, light was declared as good!

You see, I am forgetful.
I forget that He knows.
I forget he formed me in my mother’s womb and counts the number of hairs on my head.
I forget God.

Psalm 119 is David’s deep declaration of his love for God.
In verse 16 he promises that he will not forget God’s word.
He goes on to say this...

“Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law."
“Give me life according to your word!”
“Give me understanding, lead me in the path of your commandments.”
"Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.”

What David is really asking for is More light. More Jesus. More Hope.

If you read Psalm 119 in its entirety, you’ll see David’s journey through the light and darkness of life. You’ll see a man after God’s own heart and in the next breath, a lost sheep in need of a shepherd.

Oh David, I totally get it. I see how easy it is to slip away from the path of righteousness. I see how easy darkness can settle in and look like light. I see you David.

What does your “David darkness” look like?
Is fear crippling you?
Are you waiting on test results?
Longing for something that seems so far from reach?

Dear friend, let our Father flip the switch.
His light is a perfect promise, sent in the form of His Son.
His Spirit- our helper, comforter, and friend is an internal, eternal, invisible, made visible gift.

The creation story shines a big spotlight on what happens in our lives spiritually when we let His light in.
We create. We multiply, We gather. We dwell. We walk with God in the garden of our heart.

When the first words of our God declare, “Let there be light,” we should trust that.
We should trust as HE daily declares that His light will lead us. Even when it gets dark.

So let’s trust him- let’s follow the little children toward darkness with a deep assurance that HE and WE can flip the switch and let a little light shine.

Let’s tell our darkness to “ssssh,” and watch what happens when we let there be light.

Keep Praying

I've been praying... a lot. It's my new thing. My I'm-learning-how-prayer-really-works thing. My trusting-God-to-teach-me-something-new thing.

I pray before my children and husband wake up. I pray after they've all gone to sleep. I sit and talk to God and study scripture. There are moments when I feel so small and inconsequential and then other, bolder moments when I feel my prayers shouting into the very throne room of God.

Last week around midnight, I was feeling small. Little me. In my little closet. Wondering if my prayers mattered.

And there it was, that small obedience-urge. Telling me to listen to the still small voice and do exactly what it said. So I listened. I obeyed.

My obedience took me to a devotional book, a random page with the Holy Spirit prompting me to look at the key verse. And there it was shouting back to me from that Holy throne room in heaven, two small words:

Keep praying.
1 Thessalonians 5:17

With my heart swelling, I began to praise God and pray with all my might. In the darkness of my home, my little closet was the only room burning bright. 

Another obedience-urge told me to take myself, my prayer, and His Spirit and walk my house. 

So I began to walk. Whispering from room to room. In shouted whispers His Name, His protection. Pleading the blood of Jesus over each space and over each inhabitant of our little house on Shadowbrook. As I prayed my arms moved, stretched to heaven in praise, touching walls, imbibing them with God's Holy presence, claiming my home and my family for the Lord.

I reached the front door and touched the top, running my hand over the 100 year-old oak. We have been passed over. We are covered in the Blood.

I circle back to my hallway. I make my way around a door. 

A figure approaches me in the darkness....the figure gasps, startled with fright.

My poor husband. In his jammies. Sleepy-eyed. Hair askew. Jennifer...what are you doing?

Obviously, I'm prayer walking through our house and claiming the Blood of Jesus, husband.

And with his knowledge of the Jesus-obsessed wife he married 12 years ago, he grunts, and returns to bed.

Because. Obviously that's what I'm doing. Obviously.

Here's the thing I want you to know today, friend. Your prayers matter. They are heard. 

But you have concerns, you say? Issues with prayer? They may sound like some of the following:

How do I know my prayers are heard?

When I pray, I feel like my prayers hit a glass ceiling.

I've been praying the same prayer for years and nothing has changed.

I'm scared that His answer will look differently than I want.

I just don't feel like praying today. 

I've messed up. I've sinned. My prayers are no good.

He doesn't speak back to me. 

I can't feel His presence.

Am I saying the right words?

Am I praying for the right things?

Well, my answer to you is simple. In fact, just two words:

Keep praying.

Don't you know who you are, beloved? You are a child of God, made by Him, for Him, in His very image. Never say your prayers are not enough. 

Because He is enough. 

My friend, draw near. Draw near in obedience, draw near begging to know Jesus in a new and radical way. In some moments of prayer you will feel alone and small, but in others...oh, in others, your prayers will shake the very foundations of the earth and shape the very future of it.

Your prayers are powerful. They matter. They can change things. 

But your prayers can't be any of those things if you don't pray them.

Your prayers won't matter unless you pray them.

Simple, huh?

So the next time you think prayer time should be skipped because what does it matter, anyway? Here's the reminder. Two little words, one big message, straight from the throne room of God:

Keep Praying.

Big Deals and Small Stuff

So, I'm pretty good at trusting God in Big Deal situations.

Emergency c-section? No worries, God is taking care of us.

My house burning down to the ground? Y'all, I literally praised God as I walked through the rubble and ashes.

Emotional trauma? No biggie, God will bring beauty from the ashes.

Yes, my faith in the Big is mighty. I believe that in tragedy and pain and sorrow that God holds me up with His righteous right hand like it says in Isaiah 41:10. I believe in Psalm 91 where God tells me He will cover me with His feathers. During these times of darkness I hold fast to Him, I long for Him. I find my joy and strength and peace only in Him.

But, thankfully, life isn't all Big Deal situations. Most of life is made up of the Small Stuff, and this friends, is where I fail.

See, I remember the God who parted the Red Sea, but I forget the God who watches the sparrow fall. I believe for the Big, but I forget in the Small.

I've found that when I'm facing Big Deals, I'm so close to the Lord. But then, thankfully, things get better. But this also means I do not cling to Him as tightly.

I need to start trusting God with my day to day, Small Stuff. I need to remember that He cares about my morning drive, my deadlines, my fleeting thoughts, my simple choices. God cares about it all and He wants to be included in it all. 

The Bible tells us that we should pray in all situations and for all things (I Thessalonians 5:17, Ephesians 6:18), so doesn't this mean God cares about all situations and all things? He hears our prayers for help in small moments just as much as He hears our prayers for miracles. 

Psalm 139 speaks of God's intimate knowledge of us:

"...even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking.

You know when I leave and when I get back;

    I’m never out of your sight.

You know everything I’m going to say

    before I start the first sentence.

I look behind me and you’re there,

    then up ahead and you’re there, too—

    your reassuring presence, coming and going.

This is too much, too wonderful—

    I can’t take it all in!"

I'm so thankful for a God who can handle the Big Deals. I'm so thankful that in hurricane-like situations I'm confident in a God who will keep me from drowning. But I also need to remember that He's the God of the Small Stuff, too. I shouldn't just be a bad-weather friend to God, only drawing close during turbulent times. I should draw close in all times. God loves me so much that He wants to be included in the smallest, most inconsequential times of my day. 

So, that's my resolution. In 2016 I will thank God for parting the seas and seeing me through the storms, but I will also thank Him in my smallest moments and include Him in my conversations, my coffee breaks, and my simple tasks.

Because Big Deal or Small Stuff, He's the God of it all.