"Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate ; only love can do that." Martin Luther King Jr.

In Genesis 1:1-3 It is written : In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was barren, with no form of life; it was under a roaring ocean covered with darkness. But the Spirit of God was moving over the water. God said , “I command light to shine!” And light started shining. The quote posted above by Martin Luther King Jr. is one of my favorite quotes. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that….” Imagine yourself in a very dark room trying to add more light by opening the blinds to a pitch black night, no light will be added to the already dark room. One only needs to light a tiny candle in that dark room and it begins to dispel all darkness. Today is a very dark time in many lives depending on what each of your circumstances are. Martin Luther King Jr. was a history maker he instilled light where there was much darkness, love where hate had prevailed. My heart breaks to think if he were here to see the state of this world . He sacrificed so much for the cause of civil rights and freedom. He once quoted , ” We are not makers of history. We are made by history.” MLK

People seemed to have lost their way, trying to burn down the history that has made us who we are today. Martin Luther King Jr. was a man of God. He knew that his light comes from the one who came to bring light into a dark world. In John 1:1:3,4,5 it says “And with this Word, God created all things. Nothing was made without the Word. Everything that was created received its life from Him, and His life gave light to everyone. The light keeps shining in the dark, and darkness has never put it out.” We need the light of Christ in our world today, ask Him to come to you and transform your life by becoming Lord and light of your life.

In honor of Martin Luther King Jr.

Have you ever asked yourself “Who or what has wildered me?” All of us were sheep that wandered off. We had each gone our own way but the Lord gave Him the punishment we deserved. Isaiah 53:6

Even when I did not know the depth of my bewilderment, the dark places that I had wandered off to, Jesus knew where I was , what I had done , and yet- He still took on all the pain of my past, the mistakes that I had made, things I had messed up royally; and He forgave me and accepted me as His own. Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new. 2Corinthians 5:17, vs18 God has done it all! He sent Christ to make peace between Himself and us, and He has given us the work of making peace between Himself and others. This is the reason that I write this post.

It is never too late to surrender all things that hold you back from becoming His own, give them to Christ . Invite Jesus to be Lord of your life and to fill you with His Spirit. He will forgive you of everything , and as the word says, He makes all things new.

In James 1:19 it states: “My dear friends, You should be quick to listen and slow to speak or get angry.” I grew up lacking a good role model in this area. People around me were quick to get angry, no listening occurred, and unfortunately people spoke too quickly words that pierced my heart deeply. Wounded people who grew older around me grew up only to do the same to people they were not like, or inflicted their anger on those who struggled with things that were misunderstood. Diversity is the one thing that America has identified with over the years, sometimes with great rejection, then other times with a heart of compassion. I used to go into nursing homes, I did this for 35 years. My heart was with those who sensed that they had been forgotten by their loved ones, in some cases there were no loved ones left to hold their hand to tell them things were going to be alright. It was what I believed I was meant to do- to go, sing with them, many knew the old hymns, as if they were long lost love ones coming to call and kindled sweet memories that brightened their day. Many of these souls rededicated their lives to God, some just before they passed on into their eternal home. I never sang without asking each soul if they knew Jesus, as Lord and Savior. Most of them quickly, willingly gave their hearts to Him. I guess , as with anything the value that is placed on who you are is compromised a great deal as one simply struggles to live. Past presidents, past teachers, people who spent their entire lives working for the gospel, doctors, lawyers, poets, scholars , every walk of life are quite equal when life has come to a place where our daily needs to live outweigh the diversity issues, the differences of opinion, the differences of who we are. Those rare few who are sharp to the very end of course may continue to express at will- this and that about who they are. I just read C.S Lewis , “The Problem of Pain”. This quote was powerful and tied into this: ” The human spirit will not even begin to try to surrender self-will as long as all seems to be well with it. Now error and sin both have this property, that the deeper they are, the less their victim suspects their existence, they are masked evil. Pain is unmasked, unmistakable evil; every man knows that something is wrong when they are being hurt.” Another quote from The Problem of Pain”, “A man can no more diminish God’s glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word ‘darkness’on the walls of his cell.” There is , in my opinion- a heart cry in every man to let go of all pain and surrender all the pain to a God whose love refuses to remember all the bad things of the past. His love accepts us as we are, full of pain, unable to carry that pain without His help, He alone sets us free from the pain of the past.