"Let There Be Light!"

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Only when in darkness do we long and reach out for light. Like...

• Those moments when I get the urge to write and I can't turn on the light because I was sure it'd wake my husband up. (That's why he has a no-lamp rule in the bedrooms.) So I just write in the darkness hoping that by the morrow I could read what I've written.

• Brownout. It's the only time I would risk tripping and falling on my nose while searching for candles or for a flashlight. Before that, they don't matter.

• Those teenage years when God's Word, the light unto my path, was shoved in the farthest corner of my life and I lived like a caveman. I was glad when I finally got to live in the light.

• Those three long days after typhoon Haiyan. I was like in a tunnel, praying desperately to come to the light, yet so afraid I wasn't going to see the dawn of light. But it did come. God made sure of it even before the storm.

• And recently. Maybe it's midlife crisis, but it sure is dark. No thoughts. Just heavy darkness...

"And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light" (Genesis 1:3). On the first day of creation, God made light. This is the most basic essential to living life. And our Creator knows this. Every living thing on this planet can only survive with light. 

Furthermore, Jesus said, "I am the light of the world. He who follows me will never walk in darkness." (John 8:12). Only light can drive out darkness. Only Jesus can bring light. And life.

On this first day of the week, I am most grateful and extremely happy that God made light... and to even have these thoughts. It's one of those moments when light penetrates darkness. But even in darkness God gives glimpses of light. Like...

• When my own little dawn of light, Roxana, gives me so much joy. (She was conceived just before I was about to go home to Tacloban to see my parents and get Angelika with me to Russia. God knew she is just what I needed at that moment.)

• When my husband never fails to understand me. He has become a source of strength.

• When people generously give more than of themselves, and you know that there's nothing you can do to repay them but to love them forever. And in all the world, that's what you want to do.

• When you know that as long as you are alive, there is room for forgiveness... for others. For yourself.

• When God's Word shines deep, delving into the core of your being and you see yourself as God sees you. And He loves you anyway.

Today is a new day. And as the dawn breaks through the darkness, I leave you God's words: "Let there be light!"

Have a good day!