Light In Darkness

March 22, 2013
I was born in Canada, a country of freedom and privilege, and have never personally experienced the reality of war, famine, or the mass extermination of people. I do not take this lightly, but in view of what I saw today, I believe that sometimes we must open our eyes and our hearts to the brokenness of the world we live in, so that we can better understand the heart of the God who created us and cares for each one of us with a love far beyond our comprehension.

Today I visited the Memorial to the Victims of Holodomor in Ukraine , not knowing what I to expect. The word "Holodomor" means "death by starvation," and this memorial remembers the millions of Ukrainians who died in the great famine of 1932-33 under the authority of Stalin.

• This is one of the grieving angels at the memorial entrance, guarding the souls of those who died.

          

• This statue represents the people who were imprisoned and killed for having 6 ears of grain. 

         

• This is the Candle of Memory, which stands above the underground memorial hall. On the front of the monument is a depiction of revival coming out of the darkness of tragedy - a bronze crane emerging from bars of bondage.

         

• This was one of the first things we saw as we entered - it is a sheaf of grain wrapped in barbed wire, which symbolizes that it was inaccessible to the people, also demonstrated by the reaching hands.

         

• These are some of the exhibits, reminders of peasant life in Ukraine.

       

        

•  Encircling the room are books, listing the names of the millions of people who died.

        

• This is the Memorial Bell, located out the back exit of the memorial. The sides of the hillside beyond are lined with plates listing the names of villages that were completely obliterated by the famine.

        

• This is the center of the memorial hall inside the Candle of Memory, where anyone can light a candle in memory. The grains of wheat in the center represent the millions of people who died. The symbolism of a candle - a shining light - in the midst of this black and tragic memorial is significant. 

        

I have to tell you, that even as I write this, I have tears in my eyes. When I looked at the books and thought about the millions of names, too many to count, and the intrinsic value of each one, I grieved. The sheer enormity of loss and suffering that was endured by those who lived in the Stalinist regime is overwhelming and I cannot comprehend the darkness of soul that could so devalue human life.

BUT... there is a light of hope in this darkness, and it is not just the little candles that people light in memory of those who suffered and died, and it is this:

God sees and He cares. I have not lived in a time of such unimaginable horror and pain, and so I cannot truly empathize with those who have, but I do know my God and am so convinced of His love that not even a sad memorial such as this can cause me to despair. There is not one thought or emotion or deed that goes unnoticed by our Sovereign Almighty God, the One who holds the entire universe in the palm of His hand and who knows every one of us more intimately than we know ourselves. The renewed realization of this wonderful truth is the ONLY thing that made this little excursion more than an exercise in history. 

Yes, my heart aches and I wish that there was no such evil in the world...but this is reality for now. I have to keep my eyes fixed on the coming day when Jesus Christ will return. Not only will He judge the world in righteousness, but all those who trust in Him will be taken to live with Him for eternity - and there will be NO MORE pain, suffering, grief, loss, evil, sin or death!

This is the light in the darkness - the candle of hope in a dying world.

Like The Wind

When God speaks to my heart, I often need to write down my thoughts -- and this blog has become a good channel for me to do that.

The devotional today from Joni & Friends really gave me some food for thought on the theme of wind.

Wind is not one of my favourite weather features. When I'm outside in the wind, it often makes my face feel cold and it messes up my hair, and when it's blowing really strong the sound of howling wind often causes me to feel cold.

As I'm writing this, I am thinking about how often I display a negative attitude because I'm focused on the negative (or less-than-positive) aspects and this reminds me of a story I read in my childhood...

...about a little acorn sprout that wanted to grow into a big strong oak tree. But this little acorn sprout complained about and "hated" every trial that came its way -- the squirrel, the wind, the rain -- and every time, someone else came along and told him that God allowed the trial for a purpose and that he needed to be thankful for it. And one day, when he was a big strong oak tree, he realized this truth.

I usually try not to complain about weather, and instead to find something positive to comment on, but in reading this devotional today I realized that I rarely ever look for the positives of wind.

However, God's Word often compares wind to the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives and looking at it from that perspective changes the focus.

I want to share just a brief excerpt with you:

Little wonder Jesus likened the wind to the Spirit. Wind moves. So does the Spirit. It - or I should say, He - never stays still. He is always moving and making His presence known. And if this Holy One lives at the center of our lives, we will see, feel, and at times, almost smell and hear the effects. The Spirit is constantly doing something in us. Just as we can see the effects of the wind in the trees (although we cannot see it), others will observe and appreciate the effects of the Spirit in our lives.

As I was meditating on this today, I thought about changes that come with wind - the transitions between fall and winter, winter and spring, and the havoc that is caused by a windstorm. There's something within me that doesn't always welcome change and challenge and difficulty, and I can become so focused on myself and what I think I need that I miss the blessings and the working of God in those changes.

It's good to live in the moment, but sometimes we need to be looking forward to what may not be visible to us right now -- because just like the wind, we can't always see what God is doing but knowing that His Spirit is working in us is always something to be thankful for, and there will be blessed evidences of His touch in our lives.

I want to share Joni's final thoughts in closing:

Step outside on a breezy March morning and notice that the wind marks its movement by what it touches. In its wake it leaves freshness and cleansing. As you allow the Spirit to touch your life, others will mark His presence and breathe deeply of His fragrance. They will give thanks to God... and thanks to you.

I sense your stirrings in my life, Lord. Move powerfully in me. Blow a fresh breeze through my soul and sweep away anything that displeases You. May I be different for it, and may others see and notice Your touch.

In Pain and In Rest

“We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”  -- C.S. Lewis

A couple of weeks ago, I was taking the bus to school and there were no spots to sit down. So I was standing and holding onto the pole, and the bus driver made some very sharp, hard turns that wrenched my ankle as I was bracing myself. Consequently, a muscle in my ankle was strained. And this caused me quite a little bit of pain. I actually missed a day of classes, and spent the better part of 2 days resting, icing my ankle and taking ibuprofen. For about a week I used a tensor wrap for support when walking and standing so that the muscle wouldn't continue to be strained and could start to heal.

The resting process was a bit of a challenge, I will admit. I felt that I should be up and about -- there were things that needed to be done, and I felt really lazy -- but at the same time, I didn't want to make the pain worse. It wasn't unbearable, but I don't have the greatest tolerance for pain. But I quickly realized, especially through the advice of my parents, that strained muscles take time and rest to heal, and that this was going to mean I would be a little less active than usual.

God has blessed me with the ability to look at most circumstances and see the positive side, the blessings. So   when I knew that I would be taking some required "rest" time, one of the first things I did was to spend some extended time in worship, prayer and Bible reading. This is something that I do regularly, but not usually 2 hours at a time because there are so many other things to do.

So in this time of pain and required "rest", I realized how easily I forget what a great blessing it is to be able to walk and stand without pain. I also rediscovered how rejuvenating it is - not only physically, but emotionally and spiritually - to take time to really rest. To set aside the pressure of having to do things now and just to sit and "be still" in God's presence, and to think on the blessings we so often miss when we're rushing around.

God is sovereign over every aspect of my life, so I firmly believe that He allowed me to sustain this minor injury at that particular time because He knew that I needed to take a step back and have some "rest" in the midst of a somewhat painful circumstance.  I also realized that I tend to be a little impatient when something happens that hinders the "stuff" I think I have to be doing. God has been teaching me how to be patient in the healing process, and I am very grateful to Him for that.

I have to agree with C.S. Lewis -- God was shouting to me during this time of pain and I heard Him very clearly because I was stilled and allowing Him to speak to me. That's important too - He always speaks to us, but so often we are too busy to really listen and hear what He has to say. Hopefully I have learned from this so that I don't have to wait for the next painful or difficult situation in order to take some time to be still, to "sit at the feet of Jesus" and learn from Him.