A Woman in the Dark
By Staff Writer Cicily Janus

“Come out of the light and into the dark,” a soothing and eerily familiar voice said to me. I was not sure if I should follow the voice or run away.  I have lived in the light for so long, that the dark is not a place that is familiar.

“No, not today, I can not make it into the dark, it will suffocate, scare and silence away my joy into a place that I do not know.”  Those were the only rebuttals that I could offer to the familiar voice’s request. These words were obviously not powerful enough, as the voice continued to talk to me from the darkness down below.

“I can make you happy, here alone in the dark, here alone, you can achieve what you have always wanted to achieve, you can look like you have always wanted to look and you can be the person that you have always wanted to be. Here, alone in the dark, you will be alone, but not know it, you will not care for the light, as the brightness will only hinder your ability to see. To see what I have to give you, come here, come here into the dark.” His voice made me tremble, as redness flushed my cheeks at the first chill that ran across my earthly body.

I knew what was wrong, I thought I knew what was right. I could be happy in the dark.  He said that I could have the look and the achievements that I have always wanted, if I would just come to him in the dark. My decision was not easy, the howling wind called out again and again.  I could hear his echo beckon to me while alone at night,

“Come here, come here, alone in the dark.” I had to ask, to make certain that the choice that was mine to make was going to be the right choice.

“Can you give me the life that I have ALWAYS dreamed of, can you give me someone that will walk by my side when I am troubled? Can you provide a place of peace and comfort that I can go to weekly to soothe my soul? Can you provide me the peace of mind as well as a mind that could be free, and the ability to know what is right and wrong and a book of instructions to go with this all?”

I  waited and waited, and for days I heard nothing from that voice. The voice was thinking, as it knew that it was going to meet it’s match.  I was not willing to go into the dark just yet. It was a struggle. I knew that it would be nice to have all of the things that the voice had promised, but they were not the ROCK that I was looking for, it was not the foundation of a PROMISE KEPT that I needed and was accustomed to.

With the certainty that I had passed on my chance to go to the dark and to  have the life that I thought was the one that I wanted, the voice came to me one night.  The voice was the same as before, although it was colder, more direct and not as willing to reveal itself, as I had thought that it would.

“You are not a friend of mine, just yet.  You have not made a choice, I see and it is up to me, to convince you that you belong to the dark.  You do not know of what you ask.  A freedom that is so free and that is righteous is the freedom that you do not want.  You need my direction, you have to have my instruction. A book is not necessary, for you know how to live in my world, and I  can make you into the perfect person that you think you want to be.

This is what this darkness holds for you. Come here, come here.  You will see that there is much more to this darkness than you think; it has a place for everyone, and you.”

“Reveal yourself to me. Are you going to be my comfort, or are you going to be my downfall?  Are you going to answer my cries in the middle of the night, or are you going to cause the cries to impale a knife through the darkness and into the light? Reveal yourself, now, reveal yourself!” I felt a power come up inside of me that was not there before.  I felt that the help that I needed in making this decision was there, and it had been there all along, except when I was contemplating a life in the dark.

“I can not persuade your kind, you have been taken a hold of by a force too strong, a force that is persistent, a force that is not what I am. I will not be back, until you know that the dark is the better place to be.”  And in a flash the voice was gone.

The SON shone brightly as day and I was once again where I belonged, in the LIGHT.

The Refiner of Silver
Submitted by Cathy Hollingsworth

NOTE: This one's been around for a while, but it's worth an encore!

Malachi 3:3 says: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.

One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver."

She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.

The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?"

He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy - when I see my image in it."

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.

And, whatever you're going through, you'll be a better person in the end.

"Life is like a coin. You can spend it anyway you wish, but you can only spend it once."

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