Darkness into Light

Deep. Dark. No end. No light. Trapped in a bottomless pit.

This was exactly what a seventh grade girl named Crystal was experiencing because her sister was about to leave for college.

Crystal had been dreading this moment since she found out her sister was going to attend a school in Oklahoma instead of Virginia where their immediate family was. Well, most of their immediate family. Crystal’s older brother lived in Oklahoma ever since he began college there nearly four years ago. Besides him, all of Crystal’s family lived in Virginia because the military, which was who her dad worked for, stationed them there almost two years ago. She currently lived with her mother, father, younger brother, her Miniature Australian Shepherd dog, and up until that point, her sister. But that was about to change.

Crystal almost didn’t pile into the car with everyone else because she hoped that if she didn’t get a chance to bid her sister good-bye, her sister wouldn’t leave. But alas, when Crystal told her mother that plan, her mother assured her that would not happen, so Crystal reluctantly climbed into the back seat and strapped on her seat belt, buckling it in with a click.

While the rest of the family spent the last few minutes talking with Crystal’s older sister, Crystal tuned out their voices, hoping to tune out the pain as well.

Even though it was bright and sunny out that day, Crystal felt as though a rain cloud hovered above her head, pouring down buckets of rain and roaring with thunder.

At last, the moment Crystal dreaded came. The red van went from ten miles an hour down to nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, then it came to a complete halt. 

Crystal’s mother, father, younger brother, and sister all exited the car.

When Crystal stayed put, her mother had asked her if she was coming. Crystal wanted to say no, but she didn’t. Instead, she unbuckled her seat belt and crawled out of the car.

Crystal’s sister hugged each of the family members tightly and lastly came to hug Crystal, who had been hanging back from the group.

Sensing her sadness, Crystal’s sister assured Crystal that she would return over Christmas break, but the younger of the two just denied being sad. She figured that the more she talked about being sad the more she would feel sad. 

Crystal gave her sister a quick but tight hug before the older girl let go, picking up her bag and taking the handle of her suitcase.

The whole family waved for a long while...except Crystal. She just rushed back into the car and did not speak the whole way back home.

After they reached their house, all Crystal wished to do was be alone. Her spirit felt like it was in the darkest, deepest, bottomless pit imaginable. The basement seemed just the place to match her mood. 

It was the only place she could hide from her feelings, or so she surmised.

Moreover, this is just what she did.

Creeping down the creaky staircase, she tiptoed, not wishing to give her family any sign where she was heading. 

As she descended each step and each flight, she felt like she actually was plummeting farther into the deep, dark, bottomless pit. Her spirit truly felt at the end.

Finally, Crystal reached the bottom of the redwood stairs and grasped the wrought iron rail to steady her since her head spun like a top. 

The tween couldn’t stand any more of this pain, so she raced--no longer caring if anyone found her--into the farthest corner of the musty, crammed basement and sank down onto the carpet. There, she sobbed for what seemed like hours. 

When she heard someone descending the stairs, she stopped crying and wiped her tears with the back of her hand and blew her nose in a tissue she had brought with her.

To her surprise, who came in was not mother or her father or her brother; it was her dog, Pearl!

Pearl instantly noticed her girl in the corner and that she was sad, so the fifteen pound pup pitter-pattered over to Crystal and kissed her eyes, nose, and lips.

Crystal threw her arms over Pearl’s neck and hugged the petite yet full-grown dog. 

Pearl glanced at Crystal with as sympathetic and understanding a look a puppy can give.

Crystal began tearing up as she told Pearl her woes. “Oh, Pearl! I miss my sister terribly!” Her voice broke off there, but then she continued. “I feel like I’m in a deep, dark, bottomless pit, and there’s no way out!”

Pearl licked Crystal’s face all over again, erasing any traces of tears, and nosed her head under Crystal’s hand.

“Pearl, the girl who used to live with us but has just moved was not just my sister; she was also my friend! She was maybe even my best friend! I can’t imagine what it will be like not living with her anymore.”

Picking up Pearl and cuddling the dog in her arms, Crystal stood up and rocked to and fro. All the while, Pearl licked Crystal.

After one last squeeze, Crystal set down Pearl and sat back down, wrapping her arms around herself and sobbed.

Expecting her dog to come over and comfort her further, Crystal was surprised when Pearl darted out the basement up the stairs. So surprised that, in fact, she glanced up and noticed a lamp and desk, but there were no books in that room!

“How strange! Why on earth is it useful to have a lamp when there is nothing to use it on?” Crystal thought to herself.

At that moment, Pearl came back with a little, black book in her mouth.

Crystal knelt down and gingerly took the book from Pearl’s mouth. She looked at the cover and gasped. How did Pearl know the exact book Crystal needed to read: the Bible? 

Crystal did not know, but she accepted Pearl’s gift graciously anyway.

Taking it over to the desk where the lamp stood--knowing this was the reason there was a lamp in the basement--and placed the copy of the Bible onto the hard-top surface.

Carefully, she turned the old, gold-edged pages one by one until she found a verse, suiting her very need. That verse was Psalm 119:105.

Aloud, the girl read the verse to herself and Pearl. “ ‘Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.’ There’s no way out... you know what, Pearl? There is a way out of this blackest chasm! It’s through trusting that God will shed His light on where I need to go when I need to go. Thanks, Pearl! I love you, my little baby!”

Kissing Pearl on her furry forehead, Crystal led the way up the stairs triumphantly. 

No longer did a rain cloud follow her. No longer was she stuck in the depths of despair, but rather, she stood atop it--that trial was overcome. She still missed her sister, but saw the reason for the sadness; the love and comfort behind their friendship rose like dawn within her. A light shone all around her because she knew she had been pulled out of that deep, dark, bottomless pit. God’s truth lifted her spirit, transforming it from darkness into light.