Hello everyone and Happy Friday!
Early yesterday I was speaking to a women who has endured much pain and abuse. She plans to write a book about her experience and her healing and I was giving her some pointers and listening to her story. I can’t wait to read her story! In the course of that conversation, we were talking about good and evil, light and darkness. The Lord brought the words of J.R.R. Tolkien to my mind in his book The Two Towers (talk about a book about spiritual authority and evil in high places). In the book, the ancient elf Galadriel, who represents an archangel of sorts, gives Frodo a crystal full of light. This light is the light of Eärendil (the Morning and Evening star). She tells him, May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out.” For she knew what lay ahead of him in his journey to vanquish Sarron, the lord of evil and representation of Satan in these novels. In the 3rd part of the triology, The Return of the King, Frodo and his friend Sam, use the light of Eärendil to escape the dark, twisted cave of man-eating spider-like demon, Shelob. Shelob hated the light just as evil hates the light.
Tolkien was brilliant in his references to real spiritual truths in his books. He used fantasy to convey these truths in a wonderful way! He understood spiritual authority and human nature. I highly encourage everyone to check out his trilogy The Lord of the Rings if you want to see for yourself. I have already mentioned two spiritual truths he pointed to in The Two Towers (the 2nd in the trilogy) and now for the third. The star of Eärendil represented the light of Jesus Christ – a light greater than any other light. A light capable of lighting up any darkness and exposing evil. A Light that is our light when all other lights go out.
In my discussion with my friend yesterday, I told her that Jesus had been her light in the dark place of abuse and fear. When she seemed alone and with no end in sight, His light shined into her situation and set her free – illuminating the darkness and exposing evil. Just as Shelob did in Tolkien’s story, her abuser ran from the light. He could not stand it! Jesus is out light when all other lights go out. His light is greater than all the stars of the universe! There is no darkness he can’t go to and no darkness he fears. I know in my heart it was Jesus who visited a young boy in the early 1970s in California who suffered some of the most horrific abuse in California history at the time from his mentally ill, alcoholic mother. She kept him in a makeshift dungeon but Jesus came there every night and comforted him and told him how much he was loved and how much he was worth. And it was because of Jesus that he survived, was able to get away from his mother, and lived to tell his story. You can find his story in the book, The Child Called “It” by David Pelzer. He goes on to write about his journey to finding a loving family and forgiving his mother in two other books as well, The Lost Boy and A Man Named Dave.
Are you in an abusive situation? Are you struggling to see any light at the end of a very dark tunnel? Call on the name of Jesus. He will bring His light to you and light up the darkness and make a way out for you just as he did for me and for Dave Pelzer. He will be your Light when all other lights go out! He will be your comfort when there is no one to comfort you. He will be your salvation when no one else can save you. He will love you when you think no one else can love you. He will heal you when no one else can. Let Him be your Light in the dark places, when all other lights go out. His love for you has already won! Walking in great Light,
Elizabeth