"What I Tell You in Darkness..."

About four years ago, I was going through a somewhat "dark" time that would eventually become darker in the days ahead. One morning, after I had had a disturbing dream, I searched through the Word diligently for comfort and reassurance, but felt spiritually deaf. Looking back on it, I was probably more like Mary Magdalene at the tomb of Jesus. She was weeping so hard that she did not recognize the Lord, but thought He was just the gardener. Jesus may have shown me many things in the Word that morning, but I missed it because of my grief. I later came across a poem that took on the Lord's voice and spoke straight to my heart. It was written by a woman that had debilitating arthritis and suffered greatly; Annie Johnson Flint.

It still greatly encourages me today, so I'd like to share it with you.

"What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in the light."
My words of consolation, my songs in the night;
When the shadows have vanished and the morn breaks again,
Go tell what I have told you to the children of men.

"What I tell you in darkness," when the wind whips the sea,
When the waves overwhelm you and you cry unto Me;
When My voice stills the tempest, My words calm your fear,
That tell to your brothers, their fainting hearts cheer.

"What I tell you in darkness," when I answer your call
Where you walk in rough places, and stumble and fall;
When My Word lights your pathway, a lamp to your feet,
To those who fall beside you, my message repeat.

"What I tell you in darkness," hold fast in your heart;
From the desert place of waiting, when I call you apart,
From the stillness and the shadow where you were so blest
Go forth and speak to others who know not My rest.

"What I tell you in darkness," in the long night of fear,
When I wake and watch beside you, and no other is near;
In the gloom of the Garden, where you echo my prayer--
That speak to those around you who agonize there.

I Can't Help

With a list of things to do longer than the paper I wrote on, I grabbed my coffee, gave it a fresh dose of radiation, and started at the top. Within a couple of hours, I looked at my little girl and said, "Now we're going to do something fun! I really would like your help. Let's go into your room and take down all the toys off your shelf and..."

"Noooooo!" she interjected. "Mommy I can't help you today. I have things in my hands." She lifted up a big plush lamb blanket and her little stuffed Peep. As a smile crawled across my face, a frown stomped across hers and she continued, "I mean it. I can't do anything with my hands full!"

If our heavenly Father graciously invites us to help Him in some way, I pray our response is not "I can't Lord. My hands are too full." What are they filled with?

Corrie ten Boom once said, "Hold everything in your hands lightly, otherwise it hurts when God pries your fingers open."

 Eph. 2:10 "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."