Rising Up

Sometimes I write fiction. Today I want to tell you a story!

𝗦𝗼 𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗸. 𝗦𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸. Sitting on the floor I pulled my knees up to my chest and rocked back and forth. Tears wet my cheeks and it seemed as through deep darkness slid like a black cloak over me. My heart ached within me, anguish so deep I feared I would drown in a sea of murky, dark misery. The ‘what ifs’ and ‘should haves’ of my past clamored through my head, all shouting for attention and another thick sob rose within me. In the background I thought I could hear the snicker of the enemy planting malignant thoughts in my mind; “𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘎𝘰𝘥?! 𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥. 𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸. 𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤. 𝘈 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘳. 𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘶𝘱!” The gloating of the enemy grew in intensity, drowning out any other sound.

I opened my swollen eyes and squinted in the blackness. There at the very edge of my vision was a tiny pin prick of light. 𝗛𝗼𝗽𝗲. 𝗔 𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘆 𝘀𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗲. As I looked it seemed to be growing brighter.

“𝘐𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦!” I thought and rubbed my smarting eyes hard.

“𝘕𝘰!” yelled the enemy, “𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦.”

“𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴!” I replied.

As I made that declaration of faith, smaller even than a mustard seed, hope flooded in like a freight train. Light illuminated every crack, every hole, and every crevice of the room, soaking through my skin and trickling into my heart. Warmth. Thawing out the ice that had frozen like crystals in my soul.

New tears began to rush down my cheeks. Good tears. Tears of rejoicing. Tears of relief. The knowledge that my day of restoration was upon me. I felt the Spirit of the LORD filling the space all about me, the thickness of His weighty presence upon me.

Then I heard His voice. I heard His voice! “𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒂 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒇𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒃𝒚 𝒅𝒂𝒚. 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒌 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒅𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒓, 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒆. 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝑴𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒂𝒍𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒈𝒆. 𝑴𝒚 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒍𝒂𝒎𝒑 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒕, 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚. 𝑰 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒖𝒑 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒘 𝒐𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒓, 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒆. 𝑵𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒖𝒑 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒆, 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝑶𝑹𝑫 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒏 𝒖𝒑𝒐𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖. 𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒆𝒆, 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒉, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒖𝒑𝒐𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒖𝒑𝒐𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖. 𝑵𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑲𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝑶𝑹𝑫 𝒐𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖! 𝑳𝒊𝒇𝒕 𝒖𝒑 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖. 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒇𝒂𝒓 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒅𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒋𝒐𝒚. 𝑹𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒖𝒑, 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔. 𝑻𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑫𝑶 𝑰𝑻!”

My eyes snapped open and with new resolve I began to lift my head. It was easy, the power of the living God was shooting through my veins, running through my spirit! I stood to my feet and threw my arms wide open taking in deep gulping breaths of sparkling light. I felt giddy, lightheaded even and began in spin in a circle like a child. Laughter rose up within me, joy began to flow, and delight tickled me from my head to my toes. With an exuberant shout I yelled; “𝑫𝑶 𝑵𝑶𝑻 𝒈𝒍𝒐𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒎𝒚, 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍, 𝑰 𝑺𝑯𝑨𝑳𝑳 𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆, 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝒔𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝑶𝑹𝑫 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆!” (Micah 7:8 emphasis mine)

Scriptures used – Psalm 91:5-7, Psalm 18:2-3, Psalm 91:15, Psalm 119:105, Psalm 27:6, Isaiah 60:19, Isaiah 60:1-5.