Light into the Darkness

Light into the Darkness
By Shirley Mitchell
Interview of Terri MacGregor
For more information go to: www.sonlightpower.org/tmacgreg

"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
John 8:12b

My very good friend Terri and I have studied the Bible together for years at work. We have laughed and cried together as God has revealed Himself to us through His Word. We also have been in the Lexington Passion Play which portrays Jesus' last days on earth. One year the director put us short girls on the front row, and we called it "praise row" because Terri and I truly love to worship Him and don't mind letting it show.

Through the process of getting her master's degree in engineering, God revealed to Terri her calling. She had been praying for years that God would use her engineering degree for His kingdom. God answered her by giving her the passion to bring electricity to some of the poorest people in the world through installing solar panels. God connected her to a non-profit ministry called SonLight Power that changes the lives of people in Central and South America as well as Africa. She went on her first solar mission trip to Honduras in June and is headed back in July. Terri said "This is the kind of thing I've always dreamed of doing. I really believe I am making a significant difference in someone else's life, and it feels great."

These people live in areas where there is not a supply of affordable electricity. I never realized how much having electricity impacts our lives in the USA and how much it hinders other people's lives in the quality of their medical care, in their education for their children, and in their everyday life. The people are not just poor in monetary terms, but they are poor in spirit. They have lost hope. Some of these places are the most spiritually dark places on earth. When Terri and the team arrived, they brought hope to them. They showed that they care about them by meeting their physical needs. It proved to the people that God loves them and opened the door for them to listen to the Gospel of Jesus Messiah.

With tears in his eyes, one father said of this ministry, "You have taken the machete out of my daughter's hand." His daughter has the opportunity to have a better life and to not toil in the fields. Terri went to one school where the children prayed every day for a year to have their school selected for a solar panel system. God answered their prayers by sending Terri's team. She went to a medical clinic that did not have a working refrigerator. Through her work, they are now able to keep life-saving medicines for the people.

When I think about many things that people are able to do in this physical world because of light, it makes the Scriptures come alive about what we have in the spiritual realm. Jesus said in John 8:12, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." A man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going (John 12:35). We are a royal priesthood called out of the darkness into His wonderful light and are commanded to live as children of the light (1 Peter 2:9 & Ephesians 5:8). We are to put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light (Romans 13:12).

Just like the people whom Terri is serving no longer have to live in physical darkness, believers were not intended to live in spiritual darkness where there is sorrow, oppression, despair, and sin. We are to live in the light. We are commanded to live as people who have received the blessings of the light. These people in Honduras are examples to us of what God has done spiritually for every Christian and what He longs to do for every believer. Because Jesus is the Light, we never have to walk in spiritual poverty and blindness again.

Pray with me: Oh, Jesus, You are the great light to people living in darkness (Matthew 4:16). We lift up Terri and the mission team traveling to Honduras this weekend. We pray for their protection from the enemy and from all harm. We ask, LORD, that You give them the eyes of Elisha to see into the spiritual realm and the wisdom and discernment so they can take action for whatever they encounter. May the people they are serving have their eyes opened to the Gospel. Lord of the harvest, send more workers to the harvest because the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. It's in the Name above all names, in Jesus' Name, Yeshua's Name, we pray. Amen.

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