When Our Dark Times are only a Dark Room

I was reflecting yesterday over some notes in my journal.  When I am reading a good non-fiction or listening to a great sermon, I am learning to keep my journal nearby.  That way, when a concept hits me that I had never considered before, I can write it down and think it over later.

While Robert Morris was talking about how the breaking of the bread turns not enough into more than enough, he also mentioned that some times our dark times are only a dark room.  When a photographer is developing film the old fashioned way (not the Walgreen's photo way),  he doesn't stand in a well lit room full of sunshine and light.  He goes into a dark room.  If the person developing the film isn't completely in the dark, the film gets a little foggy.  In order for the image to be burned in just right, the film has to remain in the dark.  Robert Morris went on to say that sometimes God has to take us to the dark room in order for HIS image to be burned into us just right.

When I heard this, I thought back to the seasons of darkness in my life.  I think about how almost every time I come out of one of those seasons, I can more clearly see God's will for me.  Sometimes those dark seasons come when God has asked me to do really hard things like forgive my Dad.  The emotions of it all became too much, but while I was in the darkness, God was burning in His image of Father in my heart.  Sometimes those dark seasons come when God needs to teach me something.  He knows me, He knows that I draw nearer to Him in the darkness.  He knows that I will scream in the darkness, "LORD, SHOW ME WHAT I SHOULD BE LEARNING HERE BECAUSE I CAN'T DO IT ANYMORE."  I come out on the other side of the darkness with a much clearer picture of who God wants me to be.  I've found that often I have had to enter a season of darkness before I could clearly see any glimpse of the purpose behind God asking me to do a hard thing. Look back on the times you've felt like you were in the dark.  Did you come out with a clearer image?

If you are walking through darkness at the moment, let me encourage you.  A photo has no worth if it stays in the dark forever.  There will come a day when the developer pulls you out of the darkness and shows the world the beautiful image that was created in the process.