Courage is just fear holding on a minute longer.
-Kathryn A. Piersall
This will be short and sweet. On April 19, I will be leading a workshop at a women’s event, Spring Cleaning for the Soul, being held at my local church, Westminster Reformed Presbyterian Church, in Suffolk, Va. (See www.wrpca.org for more information!) My subject matter? The trials, or dark nights of the soul, that we, as Christians, are certain to face. Personally, I have walked through many, many difficult places – dark nights – through which I have learned more and more about the character of God.
In this workshop, I will be introducing “The Flashlight Principle” – a principle that I learned through one specific dark night – that I believe will help women to face difficulty, depression, despair, and dark places with renewed courage and fortified faith.
Would you help me prepare for this exciting workshop? Help me help others? Help me bring light to a heavy heart? If so, think over these questions and send me your stories:
1. Have you ever experienced a “dark night of the soul” – a difficult, overwhelming cirucmstance or season of life – in which you wanted to throw in the towel? give up? cave in? forget God? If so, would you be willing to share a little about that time?
2. During this time, did anything or anyone help you? Perhaps with one little word of hope? One touch of kindness? One simple act of faith or love?
3. Looking back at this time, because hindsight is 20/20, how did you get through it? Think in specifics. I want nuts and bolts here!
4. Do you have any “words of wisdom” for someone who perhaps is in the midst of such a “dark night of the soul?”
5. Did this time draw you near to God? deepen your relationship with Him? or did it draw you away from God, make you angry at first and then perhaps closer in the long run?
I can’t wait to hear from you! I promise to steward your stories with the utmost clarity and compassion. No names will be used. Total anonymity. My objective is to find a common thread, a single truth that perhaps will be woven into each of your stories.
Someone once said,
“Come to the edge,’ he said.
They said, ‘We are afraid.’
‘Come to the edge,’ he said.
They came.
He pushed them…
And they flew.”
Come fly with me on April 19th! OR, better yet, write your stories and let God use them to help others. One story at a time – one flashlight at a time – we will bring light to dark places!
P.S. I need your stories asap! After I receive all the entries, I will place your names in a hat and select ONE name to receive my book, Rock-Solid Families: Transforming an Ordinary Home into a Fortress of Faith. If you already have my book, I will send you my new favorite read by Noel Piper, Faithful Women, Extraordinary God! It is an amazing work that has infused renewed purpose and spiritual vigor into my daily walk with God!