We Know

I awake early. I've slept for only a few hours, but I am charged...
I blink at a dark room, pause to pray. To consider. To remember--

again.

I have no idea what time it is. I don't check.
Instead, I count God's mercies, and beg that He will keep us His... always.
That nothing will ever induce us to chose another life. That no success, no opportunity, no open door, no pain or loss, or suffering will distract us from His claims on this little family of mine.

Hours pass. I don't know how many. The light of dawn finally glows in the east. I reach into the leather bag I set down by my bed at 11:00 last night, pull out a book, open to December 18.

"And we know that all things work together

for good to them that love God."

"And we know...!" Not we think, or we hope. Not even we have faith that...
No, we know.
I know. I'd love to tell you just how, sometime...

I keep reading. But I've been fed already.

My mind wanders back over hours of prayers in the dark. There is only one condition in this verse before my eyes. "Love God." For those who love God, one day (quite possibly much sooner than you think) all the darkness will be understood to be exactly what it really is-- a gift.

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? 

shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, 

or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?. . . 

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors 

through Him that loved us."