DARK TUNNELS

October 8, 2005, I was sitting by my bedside. A tape of praise and worship songs was playing on the background. I was letting myself to be lost in it as my whole being worshipped the Lord.

The rain fell outside. It poured so hard. From time to time, thunders roared. It felt like there was chaos outside my room, but through it all, I felt so safe inside it. I was protected from the anger of the rain and thunder. I felt peace . . . . and loved by God.

Then it struck me, often times we compare our troubles . . . . struggles . . . . sufferings . . . . pain to a storm. We cry. We get lost. We get hurt. We focus on our struggle. Our weaknesses overcome us. We have no strength to fight back. We get so tired. It seems we are in a dark tunnel. We don’t know what to do. We want to go on but something is holding us back. We cannot see where we are going. We are in total darkness.

The only hope we have is the voice within our hearts telling us to pray and just keep on going. The only thing we can do is to look up and believe that at the end of the tunnel is a light that will lead us to the right path. All we can do is cry out to the Lord and plead with our hearts to help us survive.

As we journey and pray, as we put our trust in the Lord . . . . as we put our lives upon His hands, He protects us with His love. All the thunders and the downpours of the rain cannot hurt us. They cannot keep us down for the Lord is holding our hands, leading us, constantly whispering in our ears how much He loves us. He gives us His strength. He warns us of the pitfalls along the way. He never leaves us even for just a second.

Through that darkness, we feel safe and peaceful because we know the Lord is with us. As we reach the end of that dark tunnel, the heavenly light we see. And as we leave the dark and step into the light, behold we see, that it was not just the Lord who is with us, but also the angels and the saints. We are so protected by the Lord. That’s how He gives importance to each of us . . . . and in the heavens, all who are in there are cheering and rejoicing for us because we made it through our journey.

Each time we pass through dark tunnels in our lives, this happens . . . . we have to remember, we have to pray . . . . listen, trust and obey the Lord. Our dark tunnels are necessary to mold us, to equip us, to make us stronger . . . . to make our faith stronger. It is necessary to deepen our relationship with the Lord, to remind us that we need Him in our lives. We can never survive without His grace and love. Each tunnel has purpose. Each purpose is significant. As the Lord reveals each of them, we will understand the importance of those dark tunnels . . . . and that it is a great privilege to get through them together with the Lord. These are things to be joyful about during those moments. Life is beautiful if we only look beyong our dark tunnels!

-luisadelacruz

‘My friends, consider yourselves fortunate when all kinds of trials come your way, for you know that when your faith succeeds in facing trials, the result is the ability to endure.’ JAMES 1:2-3

‘Be glad about this, even though it may now be necessary for you to be sad for a while because of the many kinds of trials you suffer. Their purpose is to prove that your faith is genuine. Even gold, which can be destroyed, is tested by fire; and so your faith, which is much more precious than gold, must also be tested, so that it may endure. Then you will receive praise and glory and honor on the Day when Jesus Christ is revealed.’ 1 PETER 1:6-7