When I was a kid living in the beautiful flatness of Indiana, dad and mom farmed for a living; thus, we lived in (you guessed it) a “farm” house.    Now, IF you have never farmed, and IF you have lived in a place where the pancake flatness of a land can be seen for miles before you arrive at the far-away destination, then maybe you will not see in your mind what I am attempting to describe.

Yet, everyone can imagine a flat prairie, and everyone can picture on their mind a house sitting alone on a country road with a single electrical pole light shining in the darkness during the dead of night.

All of this description is given to say this—-as a child who often arose in the dark of the night, one who needed to travel down a flight of stairs to the single bathroom, and one who shared a bedroom with her sister, and finally, one who grew up before cell phone flashlights……..

Then you will understand how getting turned around, feeling totally lost in the darkness of a house (for a 10-year-old) IS A REAL THING. 

YES.

See this 10-year-old climbing out of bed, thinking she is headed toward the bedroom door, and finding herself smacking into the dresser instead.

See this child trying to feel her way around a wall, thinking in her sleep-oriented mind that she is headed in the correct direction, only to stumble into the side of the bed.

Needless to say, being lost in your own, square bedroom during the middle of the night and when your bladder is screaming out in torment IS PURE TORTURE.

Lost.

Groping along.

Possibly knowing, but NOT knowing.

Seeing in your mind the way you THINK is correct, but remaining lost…….STILL.

Thinking you are going the correct direction.

Seeing (in your mind) the destination you desire, HOPING IT IS only a few steps away, yet UNABLE to find the destination on your own.

Disoriented.

Confused in your mind.

Totally LOST. 

Most definitely, as one gropes along in the darkness, lostness can be so overly frustrating.

So why do we?

Why do we wander lost (even as adults)?

Why do we continue moving about within the confines of spiritual captivity, when we only need to turn toward the light-source?

The room of our soul will suddenly become illuminated with the amazing beauty of God’s light.

As a child, my older sister shared a room with me, and I feared how she might react once the sudden light illuminated the darkness of the room.

For others, the light may be avoided due to fear.  Yes, facing the unknown, facing the anxiety felt in not having all the answers can be a heaviness in the heart.

Most definitely, there are a host of reasons why so many remain in the darkness when the light is so near.

BUT GOD REMAINS CLOSE.YES, GOD IS WITHIN REACH. ALWAYS.

One particular summer night, I slept well encased in a deep dream.  Suddenly, I arose, jumping out of bed, and ran directly into the bedroom wall. Who put that wall there?

So I turned the way I thought was the open door, but another wall came suddenly into me.  Turning this way and that only led to further disasters with obstacles.

So I stopped moving.

I stood perfectly still, right in the center of the darkness, opened my sleepy eyes (really wide), & I saw a beautiful light shining.

Once I stopped groping in the dark, and once I stood perfectly still and open my eyes wide, then I saw the BRIGHT LIGHT shining through my single bedroom window.

LIGHT brought such clarity.

LIGHT gave me a path out of the darkness.

LIGHT came at the appointed time. &

LIGHT led me to walk with confidence out of the darkness.

SUDDENLY, I was moving toward the BEAUTIFUL LIGHT.

God gives us answers to our prayers.

God is faithful.

The Bible tells us so.

Past life experiences & previously answered prayers prove it to be true.

God will answer our prayers………in His appointed time.

We are to be faithful and continue to pray, remaining steadfast in our prayer circle, praising God for His answer to our prayer……….EVEN BEFORE God Answers. 

But, Why Before?

**BECAUSE GOD NEVER LIES!!!

***BECAUSE GOD ALWAYS ANSWERS PRAYERS!!!

***BECAUSE GOD WANTS ALL PEOPLE TO COME TO KNOW HIS GIFT OF SALVATION!!!

***BECAUSE GOD’S WILL HAS NEVER CHANGED!!!

“The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is LORD of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands;

nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things;

and He made from one man [Adam] every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,

that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;For in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.'”(Acts 17: 24-28)

The Bible promises that God will do what needs to be done. The Bible tells us that His appointed time is ALWAYS right.

When we feel as if all hope of an answer is gone, &

When we feel that we have prayed forever, &

When others we know have groped along, seeking what they cannot see, caught in total darkness,……..

IT IS THEN (at that moment) they will reach out and suddenly discover that God is right there.
God is never far away, but HE is always near, right there, at the end of our fingertips, right where HE has always been.

God’s appointed time.

Amazingly beautiful.

Trusting God is so beautifully wonderful. Even the psalmist wrote, “He has regarded the prayer of the destitute

And has not despised their prayer.

This will be written for the generation to come,

That a people yet to be created may praise the LORD. 

For He looked down from His holy height;

From heaven the LORD gazed upon the earth,

To hear the groaning of the prisoner,

To set free those who were doomed to death,

That men may tell of the name of the LORD in Zion

And His praise in Jerusalem,

When the peoples are gathered together,

And the kingdoms, to serve the LORD”(Psalm 102: 17-22).

Let us praise God today for the answers to our prayers that God will provide….in His appointed time.

“So Much More” by Casting Crown is a beautiful melody that reminds us how to live a life of praise, reminding us that God is worthy of all praise. Maybe you might listen today.

Maybe Today, you might also pause to Read——Acts 17 & Psalm 102.

Let us praise the LORD Before, for the prayers HE PROMISES to ANSWER in HIS APPOINTED TIME.

Enjoy a Most Beautiful Day.

May the world SEE God’s Amazing Light.