This Little Light of Mine

I moved to South Carolina a little over eight years ago when Tim and I married. We live out in the country, and learning all of the new roads and backroad shortcuts are always a challenge to me...and, of course, this was prior to the arrival of GPS in every vehicle. On one of the more common paths I travel, and one of the first ones I became familiar with, at one particular four way stop sign I used to take particular notice of an old abandoned house. Clearly empty for many years, wood stripped and weathered, front porch falling in, brush about 2 feet tall all around it. It would be easy just to pass it by without a glance...but I took notice of the porch light that was on in broad daylight one day not long after moving here. I travel that stretch of road frequently...these days I travel it daily. Over the years, each time I stop at that stop sign, I have taken notice of the porch light. All this time...it has always been on. During two separate winter storms, this area has lost power for days at a time. That light has always remained aglow. It has provoked so many questions in my mind...who lived there? Who pays the light bill? What was the family like that lived there? Why the heck hasn't that light bulb ever burned out? Last year sometime as I stopped at the stop sign, the weeds and brush had grown so high surrounding the little worn down house that I had to drive past it and really look to see it, but the light was still glowing. I had to search for it...in almost a panicked state....but breathed a sigh of relieve when I saw its glow. That evening in the dark, it was easy to see it through the bushes. These days when you drive by, unless you know a house is there, you would not really even see it, but the light still shines brightly. God revealed to me His meaning for that little porch light to pass through my life. When I first began hearing His voice call me to another level of service about six years ago, my light shone so very bright! I was on fire for The Lord and I loved the changes that brought into my life. There were times (and still are) where the weeds began to grow up around my heart...there was a season I hated going to work every day....miserable in the environment and wanting to do nothing but volunteer full time. The bushes grew up around my attitude at times...but I would shout out the mercy of my God without thinking twice. My light needed some encouragement...but it managed to show through. The season that Tim and I spent over a year in hospitals between both of us having surgeries was a grim year. God continued to put people in our lives that we could minister to through it all. Ephesians 5:8-9, 13 says "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in The Lord. Live as children of light for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible and everything that is illuminated becomes a light." When we accept Christ into our heart and proclaim Him as our Lord and Saviour, we always have the light within us. God's promise to keep us in the light is spread throughout the entire old and new testaments. In Isaiah 42:16-17 that promise is made clear-"I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them." God makes the rough places smooth...and that takes time. To smooth a rock's edges is a process...as is to give light to darkness. He WILL lead us by ways we have not known...and we cannot get through those unfamiliar paths without His guidance. This is God's promise...not His sales pitch. I awaken each day asking God to make my light shine for Him...and for His light to shine through me. Some days you can see it more than others. But he IS my light, and even when the weeds are high, and the fog is thick, and the rain is so heavy I cannot see in front of me...it remains there always...even if I have to look a little harder for it. I do not know who left that light on on that broken down house. But I thank them for it every time I drive by. It encourages me. It reminds me of God's unfailing continuous love for me.