Walking in the Dark For we walk by faith, and not by sight. – 2 Corinthians 5:7 (NRSVA) MOLLY BASKETTE | Once the voice of God spoke as I walked, terrified, down a rural road in the dark alone without a flashlight. I had just graduated from college and was on a conveyor belt to a career with the State Department, a job I was certain would make me miserable. I had granted myself one last joyful pitstop on the road to adulthood, working at a Christian summer camp that had saved my life time and again in my teenage years. I lived in a rustic cabin that could have been pinched from the set of a horror movie, a half mile down a steep and windy hill from almost everybody, and one night I found myself accidentally, horribly, the last down-the-hill person still up the hill. Setting out at a run into the moonless night, I immediately ran off the road into the woods and could not find my way back, wondering if I could die of fright at the tender age of 22. Then God said to me as clear as day, “I’ve been trying to get you alone.” God started the conversation there in the dark, getting me to slow my pace and feel my way forward, trusting the road beneath my feet when I couldn’t see a thing. After a few more summer conversations with actual humans (aka God with skin on), I applied to seminary. From then on, I looked for opportunities to walk down the hill by myself at bedtime, hoping to hear from God again. I didn’t—though I began then to understand that we are much more likely to hear from God in circumstances involving loneliness and terror than in a happy skip down the hill with friends. PRAYER God, find me in the dark. Amen. (Excerpted and adapted from How to Begin When Your World is Ending: A Spiritual Field Guide to Joy Despite Everything, Broadleaf Books, 2022.)

About the Writer:
MOLLY BASKETTE is Lead Pastor of First Church Berkeley UCC and the author of several books; her newest book is How to Begin When Your World is Ending.

Source: “What’s Left of the Night?” | 2022 Advent-Christmastide Devotional by the Stillspeaking Writers’ Group, made up of United Church of Christ ministers and writers who collaborate on resources for people in the church, outside the church, and not sure about the church.