Light Breaks Forth

There is something to be said about the darkest day of the year. The cold bitter air beckons us to shutter from the night ahead, as we prep to hunker down through this season. Isn’t it fascinating we celebrate Christmas during the darkest season? The brightest day of the year is filled with overwhelming joy, yet it’s caught in the darkest season of our calendar. I think there’s something to be said of that.

We easily get lost in the night. We become entrapped by our thoughts, fears, circumstances and in-betweens. We could reflect on this year and be overcome by what it brought us. Maybe you didn’t meet your goals, or maybe another year passes and still a promise lingers. Darkness. It would be easy for us to stay lost in the darkness of unfulfilment.

But, darkness is never really too far. Not for light.

One of my favorite things about this season are the twinkling, subtle lights all around. I love standing in the dark on cold nights (yes, really, I love the cold) to look at Christmas lights. Light pierces darkness and darkness has no match. Every time I gaze at the lights on the tree or on the house, I feel joyful. My husband doesn’t quite understand how three Christmas trees make sense, but when you walk into the room with a lited tree standing in its fullness in the middle of the dark, I think it’s pretty simple and yet spectacular.

Over the last two months, I have been reminded in my spirit over and over again two verses:

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.

John 1:4-5, New International Version

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. For behold, darkness covers the earth, and thick darkness is over the peoples; but the LORD will rise upon you, and His glory will appear over you.

Isaiah 60:1-2, Berean Study Bible

It is so beautiful the relation to Jesus and light. The star was seen; the Messiah bursted forth into the darkness. Hope was born…finally born.

Yes, I do ponder what Mary must have been thinking. And precious Joseph – what a man! But look up. Imagine heaven. Lights and sounds and roars of thunders, yet in the stillness of the night, Jesus was born. It is the greatest mystery why God would send love down in its purest, most holy form as a baby. But it’s nothing I like to question. Instead, it makes me want to sit longer with the One who came. To have gone through what I have (and what you have) in life doesn’t make a Sovereign Savior untrustworthy. It does the opposite. It draws Him close and even closer when it seems as if the darkness is inescapable.

I think that’s what I love the most – the Holy of Holies sitting with you and I in the darkness while we wait on the next breakthrough of light.

Light, friend, is in Him and you.

I know this year might have been challenging and at times dark. However, I know the light is coming. Why? Because it simply has to. The Christmas story is beautiful because of this –

For 400 years, there is no record of heaven speaking through signs, wonders, prophets, and so on. Just the priests carrying out their roles and doing as commanded. But there are prophecies of a Messiah. What do we do with words, promises, and prophecies, yet time seems to be our biggest thief against those things? We wait. We pray. We hope. We look for the Light. Then, suddenly, Zechariah sees an angel of the Lord in the temple, and everything is set into motion. Elizabeth is pregnant with John the forerunner; Zechariah is mute; Mary encounters an angel and is pregnant as a virgin, and Joseph is doing his best to lead his new, pregnant wife with just trust and a promise from the angel.

A mess, really. But messes and darkness, thankfully, don’t scare off the nearness of the Holy Spirit. Messes are part of our humanness, and I think God loves that about us. He is so holy, yet He trusts us with the matters of heaven so deeply.

Even though the wait was four centuries, He still had an irrevocable plan.

Your promise might still be lingering in the night, but look up and keep your eyes on the Light. His promises are yes and amen. And if He found a cast of characters such as Elizabeth, Zechariah, Mary and Joseph to use as a new chapter began, I have no doubt He is working around the clock to burst forth with your promise.

As we close out this year, I am prepping my 2024 outlook to share. I’ve been praying, sorting and studying for the last 5 months on this word, and I believe it’s important. How you finish this year is a marker for the next year. The lessons, trials and tests were not in vain. Tough at times, but they will be worth it. Light is coming, brightly and boldly to redeem, restore and renew what time, you and the enemy stole. Buckle up, friends.