Treasures of Darkness, by Evelyn Watson

“I will give you the treasures of darkness” Isaiah 45:3
It was Christmas 1973. My parents had both died that year during the summer, in June and July. This was my first Christmas with them gone. It was planned that we would spend that year in Connecticut for the holiday. I was not looking forward to going; in fact my heart was heavy with the idea. I wanted to be close to Christian friends who had known my parents and who had been there for me during this devastating time of my life. I was going to be without my parents, and not having my friends with me for the holiday magnified my sorrow.

For days I felt the weight of sadness and as each day approached closer to our departure, my spirit kept spiraling downward. I told friends and the Lord that I felt as though I was going into darkness. I didn’t know Dwight’s relatives really well, but I knew that their belief in God was mostly a ritualistic traditional doctrine without knowing a personal relationship with Jesus.

On the morning of December 13, I was in the shower once more pouring out my heart to the Lord when He spoke, “Read ‘Streams in the Desert’.” My daily devotional had been forgotten in my despair for several days. When I read the message that day immediately my spirit was lifted. It was a direct answer to my prayer. “I will give you the treasures of darkness” I wasn’t aware of that verse. The message was a beautiful story of what God does with us in those days when it is so dark. The last sentence read, “God is watching, and He will bring good and beauty out of all your pain and tears.”

As our plane rolled down the runway for takeoff, I thought of the song, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”. Yes, I still felt like I was leaving my heart behind, but I was no longer weighed down by it and was able to go through the holiday knowing God had heard me and was with me.