He left the prison light on anyway.

Prison Light?!?!

There is no doubt about it that we've all surely walked through a dark time in our lives. 

Maybe someone did something to you and you still hold on to that anger, bitterness, hurt, or unforgiveness. Instead of handing our hearts over to the healer we wanted to take things into our own hands and deal with it 'our' way. By doing this, we instead made a prison for ourselves. Then we asked ourselves why things were so dark.  God never intended for us to crawl in a cave and bleed out in pain by ourselves; He left the prison light on anyway.

Maybe you did something yourself and instead of running to the God of all Grace you ran and hid in the darkness of shame, guilt, humiliation, regret and fear. Again, placing yourself in a prison that God never intended you to be in. Similar to the first Adam, we covered ourselves with a fig leaf, thinking we could hide from an all-seeing God. Maybe you walked around blindly in this darkness, not even realizing that He left the prison light on anyway. 

Can I tell you something? 

I've been imprisoned for both scenarios. For years I sat in a cell. The most heart-breaking part of it all, I put myself in there and I could have walked out at any point. The only thing holding me there were lies and half-truths that I believed and held onto rather than believing the Truth of the Gospel and looking to the One who left the prison light on the entire time.

The prison light was left on for me. 

The prison light is left on for you too. 

Prison of guilt. Prison of shame. Prision of mistakes. Prison of regret. Prison of unforgiveness. Prison of hurt. Prison of impatience. Prison of envy. Prison of bitterness. Prison of addiction. Prison of thoughts. Prison of anger. Prison of heartache. Prison of pain. Prison of loss. Prison of darkness.

He left the light on, so you didn't have to walk around in darkness. He left it on so you could find your way out. His plans for you persist and continue whether you sit in prison or not. His plan to love you will not be thwarted by a prison cell whether real or created by our own minds.

"Nothing....will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39. I love the message translation of this verse; it throws in there, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture. 

It gets even better than this! In the book the Phillipians, Paul was imprisoned, and he says this to us which I think can give us so much HOPE "...what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel." Phil 1:12-14

The photo at the top of this page was taken in my home just before I started writing this.  It's this simple little flickering light I bought from Hobby Lobby for 3.99. It turns on every evening at 8 o clock sharp.

I look forward to seeing it come on, something about it always makes my heart warmer. 

I think it reminds my heart of the time He left the prison light on for me anyway.

Even the times I didn't deserve it to be left on.

​And He's left it on for you too. 

"His light broke through the darkness, and he led us out in freedom from death's dark shadow and snapped every one of our chains." Psalm 107:14

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