What Lies Beneath the Surface?

Guest Post by Author C. A. Simonson

“He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings utter darkness into the light.”  (Job 12:22)

The pond is peeling. Its floor looks like a pulled-back carpet, breaking apart in fragmented pieces of slime. It seemed lifeless all winter. No motion. Still. Silent. Undetected and hidden, the underwater carpet disguised everything beneath it.

But when spring came, new life came with it. The sun’s warmth loosened the unsightly patches at the bottom, causing them to rise to the surface. Like pockmarks, they blemished the surface until the pond keeper removed them. Soon, the water teemed with new life as schools of newly-hatched fish boiled the surface.

      My soul feels like that pond sometimes. Cold. Dark. Alone. Misunderstandings, a cruel comment, an unkind act, a little greed here, some jealousy there. They may all lay hidden in a bitter soul –layer after layer building and growing—hiding any life that lay hidden beneath the darkness.

When those gloomy days emerge, I need the Son to penetrate deep and loosen the junk enveloping my soul. If I allow the warmth of His love to soften the crust, the scabby scales will peel away piece by piece. Hurts, disappointments, and disillusionment melt as God faithfully renews life. As ugliness surfaces a little at a time, the Keeper of my soul removes the scum, freeing my soul and refreshing my life with newness again.

PRAYER: Lord, I feel gloomy and sad when I can’t see what’s ahead. Wrap me in your loving arms and warm me with Your presence. AMEN.

(From God Help Me, an interactive devotional prayer journal by C.A. Simonson).

*A version of this devotion was also published in The Secret Place.

C.A. (Candy) Simonson is a freelance writer and novelist. She began writing nonfiction articles in the 1980s with almost 800 articles published in multiple national or online magazines. Her award-winning stories are in seven anthologies, including Chicken Soup for the Soul. Her debut young adult novel, Love’s Journey Home, published in 2013 was followed by seven Christian YA novels and five nonfiction books. As a former IT computer trainer/teacher, she enjoys assisting other authors with book formatting, self-publishing, cover design, and sharing her technical and writing knowledge with writers’ groups. She serves the Springfield Writers’ Guild Board as the 2024 President and SWG webmaster. 

See more at CASIMONSON.COM