The year 2023, was a very rough year not only for me, but it was also a very rough time for my wife as well.

We all experience life’s dark rooms. How well we get through them depends on, how much control we let go of, how much trust we give the Lord for direction, especially when we can’t see what is in front of us.

We have all walked through those dark rooms, wanting to turn on that light switch, on the opposite wall in the room. You cautiously take each step trying to remember where the couch is compared to where you are. You slowly make your way across the room, sometimes bumping against strange items you didnt remember that was there. You stub your toe on a chair or sofa.  In your mind, your also thinking, I don’t ever remember this room being so big. You continue on, with your hands moving out about before you, trying to feel your way through. Then finally, you fill the surface of the cold hard wall. You now feel relieved. You flipped the switch on, and the room that was once pitch black, now has warmth and softness again as the light shines through out the room.

This is exactly what happens when we go through these life changing dark, black rooms. How do we handle them?

Some of us, try to get through the dark room quickly and hastly, trying to get to the switch as fast as we can. We  hit our knees and shins on objects causing us many bruises. With our haste to get through it fast, we knock things over onto the floor, breaking the items that can be precious to us. Some of these items can be fixed, but it also leaves noticable scars when they are put back together.

There are other people who are so cautious, and so timid, they scuffle their feet, inch by inch, they make it to the other side with out any damage or hurting themselves, but by the time they do flip on the light switch, they have spent so much time in darkness, they have to stand idle for a minute or two, just to re-adjust to the bright light. This causes time, and delays. It prevents them from moving forward, as they have to regain their focus, and re-adjust their goals.

I know myself, I have experienced both. I got through the dark room, but what did I damage along the way? How many times did I stub my toe? How many bruises are now on my shins and knees?

There is another way to get through our life’s darkest rooms with confidence. That way is trusting God. God has already prepared the right path. He has already cleared the obstacles out of the way, so we don’t stub our toes, so we don’t end up with unnecessary bruising of our body. God has already adjusted everything in the room that needed adjusted. He has already stabilized our precious items, so they won’t get broken or scared.

The problem is, we choose to make our own path instead of the path that has already been cleared for us.

Looking back to 2023, as I entered my dark room. God being always faithful had prepared my path, but instead of trusting that path, I choose my own.

I am the one, who enters quickly and tries to speed through the room. I knocked off and broke a few precious items. I receive many hurtful bruises. When I found the light switch and turned on the light. I saw the path I should of taken, and I can see the path that I took.

My  path had items out of place, pushed here, pushed over there, and because in my haste, I had run into things with my knees and shins, causing notable bruising and pain. I can see broken items on the floor. Some where very precious items. These precious items, I worked hard to keep, and to protect them, because I  didn’t want them damaged. Now some of these precious items, are either unfixable, or if they can be  fixed, only now they will have noticable scars.

So since I am a child of God, and I know that God already has cleared the path for me in these dark rooms, what made me choose my own path and not God’s? Even when, I know I am going to break something, or hurt myself doing it.

It is human nature. God gave us that. Why? God gave us the ability to choose our own way. God loves us so much, that He wants us to choose Him willingly, and not be forced to do so. He won’t force us to love him, he won’t force us to get on our knees and confess that he is the Almighty creator. God let’s us choose between everlasting life, or forever live in the depths of firery hell.  God wants us to choose him, but He will not force us to. God had even offered His only Son, who took on the world’s sin from the past, now, and future, so we would have a way to God and the only thing we have to do, is choose God.

By giving us the choice to choose, we come to God willingly, our hearts and minds are open to change. If we are forced, we close our minds, we harden are hearts, we resist any direction or decision given to us.

When I choose my own path in 2023, when I finally flip on that light switch. I saw the relationships I had  bruised. I could see how I broke my precious wife’s heart. The one person in this world that was most precious to me. The one I vowed to protect until death. Now there is visible scaring, that shouldn’t be there, because I choose my own path.

Yes, I made through that dark room, but I had caused extensive damaged. I had to spend extra time going back and cleaning up all the nasty messes I had created in my haste, to turn the light on. All because, I thought I could get there faster, than waiting on God to make a clear path for me to use

God doesn’t want that caous for anyone. He wants us to choose his path. Yes, the room is still dark and we can’t see the light switch. By choosing the path God has already cleared, we walked through that dark room, not damaging any thing we hold precious. We don’t get bruised up, and we won’t stub our toes along the way. By choosing God’s path, we have built a stronger faith, our relationship is deeper, we have drawn closer to God. Our foundation has been strengthen. We are now better equipped to do His work for His Kingdom.

My dark room in 2023, was a rough and hurtful one. Some of the damaged I caused, will leave scars, and they will leave behind reminders of what I had done. Unfortunately, I have caused damage that can not be fixed.

Yes, I am on the other side now, but my refusal not to take God’s path has caused much unwanted and un- needed pain.

I want to just encourage you, that if you are in a dark room right now, stubbing your toe, searching for the light switch. It’s never to late to stop, and trust God. He will pick you up, and place you on the right path if you let him. He is not going to force you. However, you have to make that choice.

I will tell you from my own experience from 2023. Even though, the bruises have healed, and the pain has gone, the scars still remain. They are very vivid hard reminders for me. I choose my path and it costed me a great deal. If I would of chose God’s way, I would have been blessed in ways I would not have thought of.  There would not be the scars, there would have been no relationship damage. The pain of  mental stress, would not have existed. God gave me the choice, I choose me over God, what a mess I created by doing so.

I have asked God, and the loved ones I hurt to forgive me. I have been forgiven. The scars that I had created though, will always remain.

Life will take us into dark rooms, we can’t avoid them we have no choice but to go into them. We do have the choice, as to how we go through them. You can go God’s way, or you choose your own.