Dark Night

Image by Erik Karits from Pixabay 

Since publishing my devotional, I’ve experienced a darkness I can’t explain. I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t form words for prayer. Dark thoughts, so unlike me, spiraled through my mind.

Exhaustion finally allowed me to sleep, but it wasn’t restful, and it was peppered with horrible dreams.

It was Sunday. I wanted to go to church, but getting ready seemed an overwhelming chore. After several minutes of oscillating back and forth, I dragged myself into the shower and dressed. Still fighting the urge to climb back under the covers, I drove the twenty miles to church on autopilot. The moment I entered the church, I knew I’d made the right decision.

Through the worship, my emotions lightened some, but the dark persisted, refusing to release me. I knew what the next step had to be. I needed additional prayer.

After the service, I approached the couple sitting in front of me and asked if they would keep me in their prayers. They did more than that. They prayed with me right then. The darkness grayed.

As I exited the sanctuary, my pastor asked me how I was. Something showed on my face because he followed that up with another question. “Is there something I can pray with you about?”

I told him, “Yes, I feel a darkness I can’t explain.”

He prayed with me, and the last vestiges of darkness lifted. I left the church whole, my emotions lighter, happier.

The darkness has not returned.  

I’m not sure why the publication of this book put me under such a vicious attack, except that God may use it to draw more souls to Him. If that’s true, I’ll endure many dark nights. However, I don’t believe that’s God’s intention, or He would not have delivered me through the companionship and prayers of fellow believers.

“Again, I say to you, that if two of you shall consent upon earth, concerning anything whatsoever they shall ask, it shall be done to them by my Father who is in heaven. For where there are two or three gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Matthew 18:18-20.

Amen.