I came across this amazing book, Hidden Joy in a Dark Corner by Wendy Blight, while searching for an online Bible study back in 2019. I had been having a very difficult year dealing with a serious chronic health issue which left me unable to leave the house for several months. I found the Bible study through First 5, a part of Proverbs 31 Ministries, and it was exactly what I needed. The study was based on Wendy’s book, along with videos of interviews with her and weekly Bible study questions.

It’s always incredible to me how God meets us right where we are and brings us just what our soul yearns for! I was in such a dark place, as was Wendy Blight, but God’s transformative power met her even there, and through this book, He did the same for me.

Spoiler alert! The challenge of sharing what God showed me from Wendy’s book is not sharing too much about how she came to be in such a dark place and ruining it for you. I’ll leave out the details for you to read for yourself, but Moody Publishers states the book is about “Wendy’s story of her life and learning to live with the aftereffects of being sexually assaulted.”
You might wonder how being sexually assaulted and dealing with a chronic health issue are related, but both situations can lead to feelings of isolation and loneliness, hurt and heartbreak, and despair and doubt. Woven through Wendy’s experience are lessons about trusting God, faith, suffering, and prayer, plus so much more!

One of the biggest lessons I learned was about trusting God, especially when circumstances make you feel like God is nowhere around. Wendy said, “Trusting is particularly difficult when your trial or hardship is due to no fault of your own, such as the death of a child, the loss of a job, or a devastating illness. You so desperately want an answer to ‘Why me?’ You want a tangible reason. Did you do something wrong? Did you not pray hard enough? God wants you to take your questions to Him. It may be that God sees a place in your life that needs refining or transforming, or it may be that you live in a fallen world where bad things happen. The promise you have from God is that He will use the difficult circumstances to perfect you and make you more like Him. David cries out in Psalm 139, ‘Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life’ (vv. 23–24 NLT).”

I could stop right there, because that paragraph has so much to unpack, but I would feel remiss if I didn’t mention she also makes the point, “The choice is ours. We can determine in our hearts not to cooperate with God but to rebel. However, when we choose this path, we endure double suffering. Fighting God guarantees greater and longer pain than if we humble ourselves, submit to His will, and ask Him to help us.”

Doesn’t this just hit us right where we are? I wish I had room to share with you all of the other lessons I learned! This is the kind of book to go back and read again and again. Wendy touches on prayer and I want to make a final point about the importance of prayer when we find ourselves in a dark place. Prayer is integral to any Christian’s relationship with God—it’s how we communicate with Him and the stronger our prayer life is, the stronger our walk with Him will be and the better we are able to know Him.

When we find ourselves in a dark place, so many times we allow pain, discouragement, and even doubt to keep us from coming to God in prayer. At those times, we are focused on ourselves. Wendy says, “Prayer, on the other hand, is God-centered. Prayer fixes our thoughts on who God is and on what He can do. It draws us away from our worries and presses us closer to the heart of God. We have confidence to pray because we know the One to whom we pray is sovereign, wise, and in control of every detail of our lives. In John 16:33, Jesus reminds us that, ‘I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.’”

Now, that’s a word we can all use in light of the current situation in our world! My prayer is you’ll find comfort and peace in the midst of whatever circumstances you find yourself today. I can promise you your life will be better for the time you spend reading about Wendy’s story, and your walk with God will grow stronger.
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Be encouraged and blessings to you!
Lori