30 Days of Gratitude Day Eighteen

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We are continuing our 30 Days of Gratitude!  If you missed the scoop about why we’re celebrating, be sure to check out Episode One.  Yesterday, we talked about the point of no return. Today, we’re going to be discussing Day Eighteen’s topic: Darkness.

We always get up and thank God for the light of day, a new morning, or something of that sort – and that’s a wonderful thing.  We appreciate light.  We associate light with good things.  And that’s kool.  However, today I’m going to talk to you about why it’s important to be grateful for darkness.  And what better way to do that than to read what I wrote about darkness?  Let’s go.

“Darkness.  We associate it with crime.  We associate it with evil.  We associate it with bad things and bad things.  We fail to realize that God is in the darkness.  The darkness isn’t always there to harm us.  Sometimes, actually, most times, the darkness actually works for your good.  

Let me prove my point.  You know that there is light at the end of the tunnel because it is dark in the tunnel.  So, without that darkness, what significance would the light have?  What would be the joy of getting to the end of the tunnel?   I’ll take us further.  In the beginning, all there was… was God, an earth that hadn’t been completely formed, a large amount of water… and darkness.  That’s all there was.  God’s Spirit was hovering over the waters… in the darkness.  Out of that darkness, God spoke light.  Out of that darkness… FROM that darkness…  God spoke into existence everything that exists right now.  That’s amazing.   

Let’s get to the natural for a moment.  Picture yourself standing in a room and looking at a beautiful photograph of the prettiest landscape you have ever seen.  Now I’m gonna take us back a few decades before digital photography emerged.  Let me tell you how that photo in that room was processed.  The photographer took the photo.  Then, he/she took it into a darkroom.  Darkrooms are specifically created to keep light out.  It has to be this way in order for the photographs to properly develop, and for the chemicals on the paper not to be “contaminated” by the light.  Sounds totally backwards, right?  But some of the best photos you have ever seen… were developed… in the dark.

What is God developing in your darkness?  Who will you be when you emerge?  Let me tell you about my darkness.  During my darkness, God was developing me… giving me what I would need to run a suicide prevention, anti-bullying, and social advocacy organization.  God was showing me how it felt to be rejected so that I could talk about it in this book.  God was allowing me to be betrayed so that I could answer my phone and talk someone out of suicide after they had been betrayed.  God allowed me to go through family issues so that I could tell you to keep going in spite of them.  God was fortifying me and strengthening me so that when I came out of my season of being suicidal, I would be empowered to make it through writing this book.

Since I started this book, I have seen a lot of darkness.  I have cried while writing this book because there are people I’d love to share it with that I can’t even talk about it to because they constantly discredit me or act like what I’m doing doesn’t matter.  I’ve been overlooked time after time in many instances while I’ve been writing this book.  I’ve been made to feel like my feelings don’t matter at all when I’ve gone to loved ones and told them how they make me feel.  It has been dark.  But here I am, right now, sitting on my couch, listening to music… writing to YOU.  Here I am.  This book is being developed in darkness.  Countless people will know that there is hope because of the darkness that I’ve experienced in my life.
So I’ll ask you again:  What is God developing in your darkness?”

Since my book came out, I can’t tell you the number of people who have experienced real change in their lives.  I can’t tell you the number of testimonies I have received.  I can’t tell you how much this book has blessed me and others.  But how did I get to this point?  How did I get to have a nonprofit organization, a media company, a ministry, several books and a podcast?  Darkness.  

Darkness can work for you…  You just have to change the way you see it.  

Have an amazing day today.  Show love to yourself AND others.  Be GREAT!  I speak life to you and everyone and everything connected to you!  Catch me tomorrow!

XOXO,

Na’Kole ♥