Chapter 1: Arise, Shine
In February 2022, we closed on a new house that had been vacant for several years. If you’ve ever experienced buying a house that’s been vacant for a number of years, you know that the neglect it has experienced leaves you with a long list of projects. One such project was the flower beds and a big, beautiful grapevine that had become so overgrown it was choking out other plants and blocked the stairway off the deck into the yard.
Mid-February, on a beautiful 75-degree day, in shorts and a tank top, I dove into pruning the grapevine. With my husband out of town and new to the area, I was able to devote my entire day to clearing the overgrowth.
About halfway through the day, after a break, I rushed back into pruning, neglecting to put my garden gloves back on. The weather was beautiful, and I was enjoying the progress being made with every snip.
I worked in the yard till dark.
About 3 days later I started to notice bug bites on my arms. 3 more days passed when I noticed the bug bites had developed into something much worse. I had to admit that this was not a bug bite. By the time my husband returned home from his trip, a week and half later, he found me literally in shock, with over 30% of my body covered in the burning, open, oozing blisters. I was experiencing a severe poison ivy reaction.
My husband rushed me over to the urgent care, where they told me they had never seen a case of poison ivy this extreme. They didn’t understand why I hadn’t come in sooner.
I had no good answer. I just kept thinking that “maybe this is as bad as it would get” and “surely tomorrow it will start getting better”. But the opposite happened and before I knew it, I couldn’t think straight enough to make a logical decision.
Being new to the Southeast United States, I didn’t know that in the winter poison ivy loses its leaves, making it look like a vine. The vine is very similar to non-poisonous ivy. Not knowing what to look for, I thought it was totally safe to touch and pull out. I might as well have taken a bath in the stuff. The poison ivy literally covered my arms and hands like tattoo sleeves and was
amply spread across my neck, torso, private areas, hips, thighs, shins, ankles and feet.
I literally looked like a burn victim, pink and white skin, void of all my natural coloring. I honestly wondered if I would be scarred permanently or if my natural coloring would return.
I’m happy to report that my once freckly arm did return to normal after almost 3-months.
Now knowing what the vines looked like, my husband walked the parameter of the house and found that the poison ivy lined all the fences. In some places it had grown so lushly that it looked like small trees. It was in all the shrubs, crawling up the house and hanging from trees. It was everywhere. My husband started to methodically eradicate it. Not an easy feat. Even though we are winning, to this day we’re still battling it.
As I watched my husband walk the parameter of the house, determined to protect me from having to touch that stuff even one more time, I heard the Holy Spirit tell me that we, as in you and me, have been swimming around in poison that we couldn’t fully see. He went on to say he’ll expose all the poison and eradicate it. But he will expose it first. By exposing it, we’ll know what it looks like and guard against it ever taking root again. Yes, our gracious, loving Bridegroom wants to protect us and refuses to let us pull it out ourselves. He’s done it for us. But then it is our job to stand guard against allowing it back in.
We are living in a dark season. Truly, as Isaiah 60:2 says, darkness has covered the earth and deep darkness the people. But the Lord, it goes on to say, will arise upon you, and His Glory will be seen upon you. Now is that time.
Jesus has and still is exposing all the poison that we’ve been swimming in, all the poison we’ve let our children swim in while we’ve been in deep darkness and asleep at the wheel. We sensed something was wrong. We’ve been afflicted, but thought to ourselves, “maybe this is as bad as it will get” and “surely tomorrow it will start getting better”. But the opposite has happened. And for many, before we knew it, it was so overwhelming we couldn’t think straight enough to make logical decisions.
But God! He’s revealing it all in this hour. He’s calling out to his Bride.
Body of Christ, wake up, stand up! It’s time to arise and shine, for God’s glory is upon us. We must stand, as the salt and light in this dark day. For what good is salt, if its lost is savor.
The revealing of the darkness will appear scary to our natural eyes. We must tune our spiritual eyes to see above and beyond the natural.
‘Do not fear! Stand firm and see the salvation of the LORD that He will provide for you today; for the Egyptians that you see today you will never, ever see again. The LORD will fight for you, and you can be still.’ Exodus 14:13-14
Hearing his call today, I am standing up and standing on his word. As an instrument in his hand, I am sharing with you what he has revealed to me, that you can be encouraged and edified, that you too might stand.
‘Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.’ Ephesians 6:13