Bringing things into the light...

A good friend mentioned something this morning.....that light, when brought into dark places, acts as a disinfectant.  That it cleanses things that hide, grow and flourish in the dark.

All day I have been sitting with this....I have been thinking about it in terms of how Branson's story has been played out in the light......so exposed....and sometimes that has been painful.
There have been people that I have passed in the supermarket, that if I had not been so public about my story, would have never known what had transpired.  I would had been able to walk by them with a casual "hello" or a "how is your mom?"......I would have been able to avoid some awkward moments and some raw conversation in the park. I would have been able to hide some of the weaknesses.......

Yet, I cannot imagine the greater pain of walking this out in secret.  I cannot imagine the isolation that would have followed...the almost inevitable depression.....

Therefore, I am glad that the light was able to lay on this, warm it, disinfect even the most diseased parts....I am thankful and grateful for the very simple fact that God SHOWED UP....that He became the stilts I could stand on.  I am honored to be a part of His story...of Branson's story.

The "story" is a novel that this story is a part of....a subplot of an anthology....Branson's story, although magnified greatly in my life, is only a glimpse at what God is trying to say to us.

The message is simple:

Bring your story to the light.

Abuse....Abortion...Bad Decisions....An indiscretion...
Mistakes...Adultery...Miscarriage..
.Affairs...Lies...
Separation...Heartbreak...
..all of it.....
things that you have done....things that have been done to you....

The story has purpose.....unless it is kept out of the light....
There, in the dark, it only has dominion over you.
It is only there as a tool that the enemy uses to destroy you....

Nowhere is this more necessary than from parent to child....in time...in process....in relationship.
Open.
Reveal.
Restore.
It is the story He created in you.

Like I said, this is huge....a much larger, even EPIC journey that I am only teetering on the verge of......

I leave you with the first hints of summer in our family.  They are a breath of fresh air as we begin the next chapter of our lives...as we expect great things from the Lord.