Welcome to August! And did I mention it is getting hot up in here! Beside the temps going up can you hear the sound of cheering going up along with the groaning? I can’t tell which is louder the cheering of the parents because school is resuming or the groaning of the children for the same reason. At either case it is time for school to start again. Let’s keep our children in our prayers as they return to school. Especially now as the school is a much darker place then when we went.
Dark places only remain that way until light comes. The dark never wins over light. Light springs up in the darkest of places. I was walking around the neighborhood and noticed that coming up right in the middle of the sidewalk, literally through the concrete, was a primrose flower. Nobody could have planted it there nobody that is but God. When I came closer to the flower, I could not help but feel encouraged in my heart. I felt God speaking to me that as this flower has grown in a place where it should not be able to survive, so shall He raise his church in the places where it is the darkest. The places that are the most abandoned and broken this is where He will build His church. A place just like where we are, on the corner of Iowa and Osage in an inner-city neighborhood where sin abounds His grace will much more abound! And grow we will. I just got back from the country of Cuba where it is against the law to meet for religious reasons. And yet there is His church meeting and thriving. In 2017 pastor Jorge had planted 17 churches and now in 2022 there are 30 and more are planned! God is the one who brings light out of darkness, life out of death, hope out of despair. He is always doing the impossible and surprising us with His love and power. As you read this letter, I want to encourage you. What is the darkness you face in your life today? It is not too dark for light to come. And right in the middle of your darkness light will come. We may be able to bring light to the darkness, but only God can bring light from the darkness. He is light and in him there is no darkness. Enjoy the beautiful primrose growing right in the middle of the sidewalk, and let it speak to you as it spoke to me. He will do the same for you in your walk. Keep following him and He will astound and surprise you where he shows up in your darkness. What a Savior!