Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: EXPRESSION (11/12/20)
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TITLE: Light Dawns at Midnight | Previous Challenge Entry
By Lorie Coffin
11/19/20 -
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Lydia busied herself getting the children ready for bed. “In you go, my sweet,” she said to her youngest, lifting the child into the bed and tucking the blanket around her like a caterpillar in a cocoon.
“Sleep tight, little one.” Lydia reached down and kissed the girl’s rosy cheek softly.
“Mama?” said the child inquisitively. “Who were those men here today and what were they talking about?” The girl waited for an answer, twisting her little body about under the covers and threatening to undo all Lydia’s efforts.
“Never mind, you,” Lydia teased. “Now go to sleep or I’ll have to eat you for lunch!” She playfully motioned as if to bite her slender arm sticking out from the blankets.
“Oh, Mama, okay! Goodnight!” said the girl, giggling.
“Goodnight, love.”
Lydia arose from the child’s bedside and blew out the candle.
Moments later, nightgown on, she tucked herself into her own bed and pondered the events of the day.
“What brave men,” she thought, “how they endured the humiliating beatings in the public square.” Paul and Silas had done a good work casting out the spirit from the slave girl. Yet they found themselves in prison for it.
“Amazing,” Lydia muttered aloud.
As the moonlight began to fill the room, a strange calm came over Lydia. The story that they had told the believers in her house that day was horrific; beaten to an inch of their lives, legs in stocks, guarded in the deepest jail cell. Yet, somehow, she was not afraid.
Paul had said to her, “Lydia, nothing is more powerful than your midnight expression, the song you must sing in your darkest hour.” He paused before going on. “I know you are a new believer and you may not understand it all yet but you’ll have to learn fast. Things are progressing quickly and the Lord is adding to our numbers. He will give you insight into all this.”
Paul took her hand and looked her square in the face. “Don’t ever forget to sing aloud your praise to God, even when you are hurting and it looks like God has abandoned you.”
His words were powerful and somehow touched her soul deeply. Even now, they lingered, like she would need to recall them and act on them herself, perhaps very soon. Sooner than she would have liked.
“God always hears the cries for help and the expressions of praise from His children, Lydia,” Paul went on, “even in the very worst situations.”
She shifted her feet and looked down, feeling loved but exposed at the same time. It was like her knew her. He lifted her face with his hand and continued. “Your worship, your thanksgiving, your voice; all of it matters. When people hear you praising God, they are stirred in their own souls, maybe even saved by your trust in God, just like the jailer and his family yesterday. God set us free by our worship but He set them free too.”
Paul spoke softly now. “Silas and I could do nothing about our captivity.” He paused. “But we could sing.”
He smiled at her. “We must never let them steal our voice. Who knows what God will do with it?”
Lying in the bed, reflecting upon Paul’s words like this, something changed deep inside Lydia. She blew out her breath with a sigh, the night air so cool in her bedroom she could almost see it.
“The prison doors flew open, Lord,” she prayed. “You got those men out of the prison with their praise in the night and they didn’t leave emptyhanded. A whole family was saved, Lord.”
Lydia let the prayer linger, pondering what it meant for her future and her own family. Then, courage and determination arose as she remembered the rest of Paul’s words.
“Now let me tell you of the cost.”
After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house where they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged them. Then they left. Acts 16:40*
*NIV
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