Life is difficult at times. Scripture prepares us for this reality, and experience confirms it. Yet within every hardship, we retain the ability to choose our hard.
Some years ago, I entered a season marked by fierce winds and dark skies. I had worked faithfully for decades. God had blessed me with a marriage of over twenty-five years, three children, and a career that has exceeded every expectation for nearly thirty years. Even with all of these blessings, the storm grew heavy and my strength grew thin. I prayed for rest.
My prayer was simple. “Lord, You know I have been faithful. You know I have worked to Your glory. But I am tired. The waves are vicious, and I am tired. Please show me the path to still waters and green pastures. It is dark; bring me to the light.”
I waited.
I prayed again. This time, instead of comfort, I received a question.
“You want to be brought out of the darkness and into the light?”
“I do,” I answered.
The question came again. “You want to be brought out of the darkness and into the light?”
I paused longer. Considered the question more deeply. Again, “I do.”
Another long silence.
“I can bring you out of the rough waters and out of the darkness. But first tell Me, are there others in the darkness?”
“There are,” I answered.
“How many?”
“Multitudes.”
“If you are Mine, and if My light shines through you, and if I bring My light into the darkness through you, then those multitudes have hope. Are you not My lighthouse, built by My hand, filled with My light, capable of withstanding every storm. If I remove you from the darkness, what of those lost at sea. Shall they perish for lack of a beacon. I ask you a third time. Do you want to be brought out of the darkness and into the light.”
An eternity seemed to pass as I felt the weight of the question pierce deeper than anything I had ever confronted. And then, clarity came. For the first time, I saw the truth.
“I do not want to be brought out of the darkness and into the light. You alone are the light within me. I ask only that You remain in me as I remain in the darkness. And if a mightier storm and a darker night come, and You ask whom shall I send, then here am I. Send me.”
I have never told this story outside my family. Yet all of us face dark seasons. All of us enter waters that scare us. And sometimes we are not meant to escape the darkness at all. Sometimes we are placed in the storm precisely so others can find their way home.
A Behavioral Psychology Application
From a behavioral perspective, hardship functions as an environment rich in discriminative stimuli. Dark seasons activate patterns that reveal what has been trained, reinforced, and strengthened over years. A storm does not merely test character; it exposes the contingencies we live by.
When an individual chooses to remain steady in adversity, they model behavioral persistence. This is the same principle observed in children, athletes, and clients who learn to tolerate distress, maintain adaptive responding, and shape others through their example.
Light in darkness is not symbolic. It is behavioral. Our actions become cues that guide others toward safety.
Remaining in the storm becomes a form of service-learning, where personal endurance becomes a form of social reinforcement for those around us. It is the lived expression of Isaiah’s response. “Here am I, send me.”
A Scripture-Anchored Exhortation
Isaiah 6.8 records one of the most courageous declarations in all of Scripture. It is not spoken in comfort, but in awe-filled fear. Isaiah does not volunteer from a place of strength, but from a place of surrender.
When we say, “Here am I, send me,” we are not claiming capability. We are declaring availability.
And God has always accomplished His greatest work through those who were willing rather than those who were comfortable. The storm is not always an enemy. At times, it is an appointment.
A Prayer for the Storm
Lord, strengthen those who stand in dark places.
Remind them that Your light within them is not diminished by the size of the waves or the weight of the night.
Use them as beacons for the multitudes who are searching for hope, for truth, and for home.
Grant clarity in confusion, endurance in hardship, and peace that surpasses understanding.
And when You ask whom shall I send, give us the courage to answer with full hearts, “Here am I, send me.”
Amen.
Closing
Every person will face storms. Some are meant to learn from them. Others are called to stand within them. And a few, by God’s choosing, become lighthouses.
If you find yourself in darkness today, do not assume that you are abandoned. It may be that you were placed there for a reason. Light always shines brightest against the backdrop of night.
Sometimes, we are the vessel God positions so others can find their way home.