Throughout the latter months of 2023 I came across a book by American author Alicia Britt Chole, The Night is Normal - A Guide Through Spiritual Pain. A friend of mine was going through a 'dark night of the soul' and I wanted to offer some encouragement.
As I often do, I ordered my own copy to keep on my shelf for 'another day', due to my (then) ignorance of being in my own 'night' season. But within weeks, I was drawn to it. Isn't it interesting how God works. He was preparing me for my season through the encouraging actions towards another.
I'd previously read Chole's '40 Days of Decrease', which is a devotional book to use through Lent (also great, challenging beyond measure, but a good practice), and heard her speak on podcasts, so I was familiar with her gentle, but honest style of writing.
The Night is Normal shares enigmatically that 'the night is not your enemy'. It's actually one of our deepest seasons of growth, where faith is fortified and constructed (and let's be real, often deconstructed too!) But even the deconstruction can itself be fortifying when submitted to God.
I felt encouraged reading this book – from the moment she shares her 'porch storm' story with her father, to the personal stories weaved throughout her structured sections. I'm a visual person, and feel connected to God most through creation. So the language of storms, trees, nature and seasons will always speak to me.
After developing this idea of how the 'night' serves us best, leaving me feeling strangely intrigued and (dare I say) excited for my season in the dark, Chole moves on to the three key areas that often illustrate or invite us into darkness.
Disillusionment with God
Disillusionment with Self
Disillusionment with Others
Depending on your dark season, you may instantly feel drawn to one of these over the others - I know I have in dark seasons gone by. But for me, in this season, I found myself navigating more feelings of numbness, or a term I found myself using 'on pause-mode'. So these three sections were more 'information to store for later' than right now.
The main takeaway for me, again in this season ... was saturated in the first section 'Navigating the night'.
A valuable read, one that will likely offer many layers to anyone who reads it.
(As always, the links to the books included in this blog are Amazon Associates links - this digital marketing enables me to fulfil my dream to one day own my own home. By clicking on the links, you are actively contributing to that dream. Read more about this in my Bio section.)
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