living in the dark...

I think about my house.  I've lived in in for five years, and I've seen it in the light a lot.  I know where things are.  I know where the walls are.  I know where the furntiture is because I've been in it in the light.  I've walked through it; I've lived in it.

If the lights go out in my house, I'm not likely going to stumble through the darkness in the same way that someone would who'd never been in my house.  They don't know where things are - they haven't been there in the light.

The lights went out, in a way, in my friends life.  But she had walked in the light with the Lord for so long that when her circumstances became dark, she was able to walk through those rooms - yes, with weeping; yes, with aching; yes, with turmoil and difficulty - but with a sweetness and a peace and a presence of Christ that has sustained her because she has a foundation.

She didn't all of a sudden have to take a crash course in getting to know God in the dark.  She'd gotten to know Him in the light and now she's familiar with the territory. 

Now she's getting to know Him in a whole new way in the dark...