The Woods

She ran through the woods, frighten by what followed her. Pushing through trees and branches and stumbling over roots.

The panic overtook her as she glimpsed the light through the trees... the light that she so desperately wanted to reach. She knew she had been there before, in that light. She knew she had felt the warmth. Yet she was here in the darkness again.

She cried out, knowing that someone would hear her. The thought of running anymore overwhelmed her. It was so much easier to fall into the darkness, to fall on her knees and give up. It was what she was used to and she felt a strange sense of comfort in this dark forest.

But she knew, she knew that the light that she was seeing glimpses of held a glory and peace beyond what she could imagine.

Why was this forest so dense? Why was it such a struggle? She was cut and bruised. Cut and bruised from falling and deciding not to get up. Sometimes, when this darkness felt like if would overcome she would just curl up in it. She would have no strength left to fight.

But sometimes in these moments, she would cry out to the One who hears her and He would come, quietly by her side and he would lift up her head and he would carry her into the light. Every time she was there in the light, sitting in the warmth, basking in His presence she couldn’t imagine ever being back in the dark, cold forest. But yet again here she was, running, panicked, overwhelmed.

She felt, frustration, frustration with herself, frustration with the fact that she didn’t have the strength and that she knew soon she would be back on her knees crying out for the strength she so desperately needed.

Tears continued to stream down her face, as the panic rose, as the desire to be in the light increased, as the darkness threatened to consume. She fell on her knees and cried out to be saved from this darkness. Cried out and said, “This is NOT my home!”

She cried on her knees in the dirt. With her knees scraped and her hands covered in dirt, tears and blood she felt a warmth begin to fill her soul. This warmth, this light that she now saw was where she belonged. She could hear Him calling out to her, she could hear his voice calling out to her through the darkness and she slowly stood up and walked towards His voice.

 As she walked through the trees towards His voice, the trees became less thick and the light began to stream in, the cold dampness of the forest was replaced by a warmth that her skin soaked in. She began to walk faster, feeling her strength increase each step she took, feeling the panic lose its grip as the light grew warmer and brighter. A laugh began to well up somewhere deep inside her soul and escaped her lips trickling out into the trees and light. She felt Him beside her and looked into His face. He looked back at her, with a love so deep it can’t be described, with a understanding so genuine that it took her breath. So they walked forward...into colours indescribable, perfect warmth and light that was heavenly.