“We may not feel today the peace and joy which we felt yesterday; but we should by faith grasp the hand of Christ, and trust Him as fully in the darkness as in the light.” – Messages to Young People p. 112

Life is complicated and difficult.  We do experience beautiful things and happy moments, but these do not stretch to all of our waking moments.  We can experience relationship problems, work problems, health problems, inner problems, and sin problems.  It is easy sometimes to focus on these situations and become discouraged and lose site of the sun in our lives.

What can be most difficult is when we feel far from God.  When we feel that our own shortcomings are cutting us off from the Savior, it can feel like a negative spiral of hopelessness.  We have separated ourselves from the holy by our actions, and it seems that the gap to God is uncrossable.

Jeremiah 31:3 – The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.

In times like these, it is important to remember that feeling is not the true driver of our Christian experience, but that faith is.  The promises of God stand true: that He loves us, and is working to draw us to Himself.

Matthew 11:28 – Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

It is important for us to remember that though our situation may seem dark, it is better to think about Jesus, scripture promises, blessings in our lives, and the positive impacts of truth, than to hash our current negative situation over and over.  I’m not saying that it is an easy thing to disregard a negative situation, nor is it best to ignore solutions to resolve the situation, but there is light out there for us to have, even in the darkness.

And in the darkest dark, when we feel hopeless and cannot see the way, when every avenue seems blocked, remember that God loves us, has a plan for our lives, and that He is guiding us, though we cannot discern it at the present time.