Copyright 2017 by Joel Osteen
Cover design by Jason Madding
Cover photo by Lakewood Church
Cover copyright 2017 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
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First Edition: October 2017
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
N ames: Osteen, Joel, author.
T itle: Blessed in the darkness / Joel Osteen.
D escription: New York : FaithWords, [2017]
I dentifiers: LCCN 2017020080| ISBN 9781455534326 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781478923947 (large print) | ISBN 9781478991816 (Spanish edition) | ISBN 9781478987185 (audio download) | ISBN 9781478987123 (audio book) | ISBN 9781455534319 (ebook)
S ubjects: LCSH: Consolation. | SufferingReligious aspectsChristianity. | Providence and government of GodChristianity.
C lassification: LCC BV4905.3 .O88 2017 | DDC 248.8/6dc23
L C record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017020080
ISBN: 978-1-4555-3432-6 (hardcover), 978-1-4555-3431-9 (ebook), 978-1-4789-2394-7 (large print), 978-1-5460-2713-3 (signed edition), 978-1-5460-2412-6 (B&N signed edition), 978-1-5460-3317-2 (international trade paperback), 978-1-5460-3177-2 (South African trade)
E3-20170905-JV-NF
W hen we think about what it means to be blessed, most of the time we think of the good things that have happened to us. Perhaps our supervisor offered us a new position at work, and we were blessed with a promotion. We remember when our new baby was born, and how we were blessed with a child. Or we may have overcome an illness and been blessed with a return to good health. Blessings and good times go hand in hand. Its easy to celebrate and have a grateful attitude when things are going our way.
But what about when we go through really difficult times? The company was downsizing, and we were laid off. Somebody walked out of a relationship with us, and now we have to start all over. Where are the blessings when we go through things we dont understand?
I met a young lady who had been pregnant for five months with her first child. She had been so excited that she had already decorated the babys room, but something went wrong with the pregnancy, and she had a miscarriage. She was numb with grief, expressionless, in a dark place.
In 1981 my family thought wed be celebrating the Christmas holidays together, enjoying fun and fellowship. Instead we learned that my mother had been diagnosed with terminal liver cancer and given a few weeks to live. It was a very somber Christmas. Is it possible that we can gain blessings in these times of darkness that we cannot gain in the light?
All of us at some point will go through a dark placea sickness, a divorce, a loss, a child who breaks our heart. Its easy to get discouraged, give up on our dreams, and think thats the end. But God uses the dark places. Theyre a part of His divine plan. Think of a seed. As long as a seed remains in the light, it cannot germinate and will never become wha t it was created to be. The seed must be planted in the soil, in a dark place, so that the potential on the inside will come to life. In the same way, there are seeds of greatness in usdreams, goals, talents, potentialthat will only come to life in a dark place.
The Dark Places Bring Us Blessings
Throughout the Scripture, every person who did something great went through one of these dark places. Moses made a mistake and killed an Egyptian man. He spent forty lonely years on the back side of the desert, feeling as though he had blown it. But in that dark place something was being shaped in his life. He was being prepared, developing patience, humility, strength, and trust. Without the dark place Moses would never have held up his rod and parted the Red Sea. He would never have led the Israelites out of slavery and toward the Promised Land. The dark place was a prerequisite for his stepping into the fullness of his destiny, and its a prerequisite for us as well.
Esther was an orphan, having lost both of her parents, and living in a foreign country. She felt alone, forsaken, abandoned, in a dark place. Yet God used her to help save the people of Israel. Joseph was betrayed by his own brothers, falsely accused of a crime, and put in prison, a dark place. But he ended up ruling a nation. Elijah descended from a great mountain victory into a dark place of depression so low that he wanted to die, yet hes one of the heroes of faith. David had an affair with a married woman, and then he had her husband killed in battle. But after an extremely dark time that followed in his life, David turned his heart back to the Lord and is remembered as the man after Gods heart.
You may not realize it, but its in the dark places that you really grow. Theyre where your character is developed, where you learn to trust God and to persevere, and where your spiritual muscles are made strong. In the dark places you pray more, you draw closer to God, and you take time to get quiet and listen to what Hes saying. In those dark places you reevaluate your priorities, you slow down and take time for family, and you get a new appreciation for what God has given you.
A friend of mine was given the devastating news that because of an infection he was going to lose his eyesight. He had surgery and wasnt supposed to be able to see afterward. But the doctors were able to correct the problem. Amazingly, he came out of the surgery with his vision perfectly fine. Now every morning when he gets up, he takes fifteen minutes and just stares at the trees and the flowers, and he gazes in wonder at his children. He didnt realize it at the time, but in that dark place he was being blessed. Something was happening on the inside. He was experiencing new growth, a greater confidence, endurance, and resolve.