Electricity

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Psalm 119:105

I think we all know this scripture or at least recognize it in song! But the other morning, this was really circulating in my mind.

"Why?" you may ask.

Well, for the second time this month, we were in the DARK! We have lived here over a year. We have experienced many thunderstorms and strong winds. However, we have never lost power until this month... now it has happened twice. I think I told you about the first time when Dano's Dad was here. Well, the other night, it happened again. It went out at 10 p.m. just in time for bed, but it didn't come on til noon the next day. The kids and I spent the day out running errands so that I didn't have to deal with the "no water" issue since we have an electric pump that gets water out of our well to our house. I can deal with no electricity... it is the no water that gets challenging. I like to wash my hands! =0)

Anyway, back to the DARK!

You see, we live in the country. I mean the pitch black, no street lights, no city lights, country! So when our electricity goes out, we are truly in darkness.

We knew storms were coming. We were prepared. Even before the kids went to bed, I had prepared the laundry room with essentials in case we had to head in there and take cover for a tornado. I had the flashlight, some water bottles, blankets, pillows, etc. Well, the storm seemed to die down, so it was looking pretty safe. Well, like I said, when 10 p.m. rolled around the lights suddenly went out after storming started again. I had fallen asleep on the couch (as usual these days) so Dano got up to get the flashlight.

OOPS, I forgot to tell him I had moved it from the top of the fridge to the laundry room. Well, gosh, you think after living in a house for over a year it would be a simple task to get from one room to the next to find a flashlight in the DARK! Well, wrong!

If you haven't been here, our house has an interesting "maze like" floor plan especially to get to the laundry room. So, as I was heading to the laundry room from the living room, I was shocked how hard it was to find my way! I kept waiting for my eyes to adjust so that I could see... well, it never really happened. It was THAT dark! Thankfully, we'd had the kids clean up the toys out of the floor or else we'd been having some pain in our feet!

We both finally made it to the laundry room, but the flashlight was NOT where I had left it! Argh! It didn't take me long to realize that that our precious Derek had been at work in the laundry room apparently practicing for a tornado. We didn't even have a candle at this time only the tiny flicker from a grill lighter. Since I had been asleep, I couldn't come up with an answer to Dano's simple question, "Where is a candle?" I finally remembered where we could find a candle, so Dano & I stumbled our way to our bedroom to light some & finally be able to see! I went back to the laundry room amazed at how simple it was to find the flashlight just by using the candle!

A candle doesn't seem like much light on a normal basis, but when it is the ONLY light... talk about illuminating!

Well, finally back to the scripture. "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."

In the wee hours of the morning I was lying awake in bed because Olivia had woken up and wanted some light in her room. So after stationing a flashlight in the hallway as a nightlight, I was back in bed wondering when our electricity would be back on. As I was wondering, the Holy Spirit brought this scripture to mind.

The darkness I faced was NOTHING compared to the darkness that so many face without God's Word!

My darkness was physical and temporary.

Their darkness is spiritual and eternal.

Some of us place ourselves in the darkness by staying out of God's Word. We are so blessed to have God's Word at our fingertips, yet we don't devour it. We aren't using it to illuminate our lives...or the lives of others.

And still there are others living in a darkness not of their choice but because they were born into a people group who has yet to receive a translation in their heart language.

Oh, Lord, help these people to have a Bible in their language. Father, send people to help. Father, may those you call have the courage to answer with YES. May we all help in some way. Thank you, Lord, for loving us and sending us your WORDS. Father, may we read them, learn them, and memorize them so that our path may be lit by YOU! In Jesus name, Amen

May your path be lit with His Word!

Love,
Melinda =0)