Throughout my life there have been times I've walked in the dark.
There are times I have walked in the dark myself. There are times it has
appeared out of nowhere. Finally, there are times where God has put me in that
darkness.
You may ask, why would God put me in darkness? It is because He knows I can handle it. In the story of Ten Virgins they each had a lamp, but only five had extra oil with them. (Matthew 25:1-13)
There are times in our lives where we only have the oil in our lamps and times where we remember to take extra oil with us. In the times where our lamps go out know you are not alone. In the Book of Mormon Lehi is great example of this. In a dream or vision that he had, Lehi related the following in 1 Nephi 8:
"I saw in my dream, a dark and dreary wilderness. And it came to pass that I saw a man, and he was dressed in a white robe; and he came and stood before me. And it came to pass that he spake unto me, and bade me follow him. And it came to pass that as I followed him I beheld myself that I was in a dark and dreary waste. And after I had traveled for the space of many hours in darkness, I began to pray unto the Lord that he would have mercy on me, according to the multitude of his tender mercies."
There are times where we will be asked to
walk in darkness. Darkness may include trials, lack of revelation or the
perspective that life is terrible or plateauing. But as the previous scripture
depicts, Christ led Lehi in that darkness. We are led through the darkness by
Christ. However, sometimes faith includes taking that step forward despite
being in that darkness. Once we're out of that darkness our responsibility is
to help others walk through darkness.
