Look for Encouragement When Your Day is Dark

We all have those days...you know...those dark days when doubt, frustration, impatience, and whatever else seeps in. Well...today was one of those days for me.

I'm at the point where I'm going to have to find a part-time job until my business here takes off. It was a heavy morning full of prayer and seeking direction.

I got over it as the day wore on, but I like to try to do more than just "get over it." I decided that I wanted to write tonight about embracing the darkness as a way to grow. I did what any of us would do...I googled it. I found this article on 13 Encouraging Quotes to Inspire from success.com. Here are a few that struck me in my soul:

“I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars.” –Og Mandino

“It doesn’t matter how slow you go as long as you don’t stop.” –Confucius

“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” –Theodore Roosevelt

“And you ask ‘What if I fall?’ Oh but my darling, what if you fly?” –Erin Hanson

I thought these were so appropriate for us. We can embrace the dark days when our traffic is down and the sales aren't coming. We can know that with the darkness we can see the stars. And we can know that the light will come again.

This has never been more true for me than when I went to sleep every night for a week in the Northern desert of Kenya. With no electricity for a hundred miles we were able to truly see the stars. It's the most breathtaking thing I've ever seen.

So I choose to remember that picture along with the first quote...to engrave it on my brain. And I'll pull that mental picture out when the darkness starts to creep in. As a matter of fact, I'm going to bookmark these quotes.

I hope sharing this is encouraging you too and that you'll join me in looking at the stars on those dark days!

Side Note: No, I didn't take this picture and it's still not close to what I saw (the sky is too light).