I got a message from a dear friend after I posted here last week. She noted that my blog posts of late have had “a deep note of sadness” as I’ve walked through the process of grieving dreams that have yet to come true. She said, “…I look forward to hearing of you waking to a sunrise rather than ending on a sunset, lovely as that is…”

I’ve been thinking about that this week, and it reminded me of a painting I have sitting on my dresser. The painting is a piece of prophetic art recently painted for me by another friend. This friend prayed for me and painted what she felt God gave her for me. This is the painting:

 My friend wrote on the back what she felt God was speaking to her in the process. “The word I heard for you was dawn. I felt God wanted to bless you with a picture of dawn… to remind you that night is only for a time… hope for the dawn.”

According to the dictionary, “dawn” has a number of definitions. We often think of “the first appearance of daylight in the morning”, but it also means “the beginning or rise of anything; advent” and “to begin to open or develop.” The word that strikes me most in those definitions is advent. We are only weeks away from the season of advent, a time of hope and expectation for promises fulfilled.

Yes, the past few months have been difficult, and I have spent time trying to find beauty in the midst of darkness, but sorrow’s time is limited. The dawn will come, and with it will come light, joy, hope and a different kind of beauty.

God’s glory and beauty can be seen in every season and circumstance we walk through. Dawn hasn’t come fully yet in my circumstances, and I am still seeing the beauty that the sunset brought with it. The clarity and vision that comes with the light hasn’t arrived; I don’t yet see where I’m going.

However, hope for the dawn is beginning to grow. I believe something will begin to open soon, and the appearance of those first rays of light will shine forth in the days to come. I don’t know what that light will illuminate or what the path ahead will look like, but I know that it will be filled with God’s presence, glory, beauty, joy and hope. I believe it will involve other people and new visions and dreams. I trust it will include promises and hopes fulfilled.

“Tears may flow in the night, but joy comes in the morning. (Psalm 30:5 GNB)

Dawn is coming!