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Kyren adjusted her pendant so that the beam of light emanating from it illuminated the paper in her worn, leatherbound notebook. "Day 52. The darkness is all-consuming. Do I even remember what light looks like? Thank God for these pendants—but even they seem to be weakening after all this time in the deep. Still, we press on into the depths of the sea, deeper, perhaps, than anyone has gone before. We will fix our eyes on the One who made these ocean depths and remember that this night, though it seems everlasting, is only temporary—"

Ink splattered across Kyren’s page, interrupting her journaling with a harsh jolt of the underwater craft. Taryn burst into the room, his eyes wide. “Ky, the vessel is taking on water. We need to make repairs before it’s too late!”

The damage to the craft seemed extensive. Kyren paused to survey the inside of the hull and witnessed her people using their various gifts to assist. As several of them worked on reducing the water’s flow and repairing the fissure in the vessel with quick movements and keen minds, Kyren started emptying buckets into the emergency drain and prepared to use her gift.

Lifting her voice, she spoke truth over the atmosphere of chaos and fear: “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it! We will not lose heart! These troubles are but for a moment—the glory of eternity with God outshines all of this.”

Hours later, the group lay sprawled by the vessel’s massive window, gazing at creatures of the deep they had never before seen, some of which glowed bioluminescent in the dark. By working together and relying on the power of God, the damage to the vessel had been repaired. Relief was evident on every face that was, at last, resting. Kyren pulled her journal out and penned the words she would not soon forget:

"Miraculous, how the deeper we go, the more we see light. It’s all around us, these creatures of the deep, enabled to shine by the power of our Creator. No hardship can destroy our hope—for we have the Light of God in us through His Son. Though it is hard, we press on, for He is with us and in us.” • Savannah Coleman

• Like Kyren and her crew, do you ever feel like the dark is surrounding you and choking out every bit of light in your life?

• When we walk through inevitable hardships, it can be easy to give in to despair and forget that our God is with us through Jesus and in us through the Holy Spirit—and He is always for us. How can remembering God’s presence with us, and that He is greater than all the things we face, give us strength to keep going?

• If you are a child of God, you can rest in Jesus’s promise: the Light of God will overcome the darkness (John 1:5; 12). And the Light has a name: Jesus Christ. Because we are in Christ, no difficulty we endure has the power to crush or destroy us; because Jesus came to live among us, die on the cross, and rise from the dead for us, we have an eternal glory that outweighs everything we go through on this earth (2 Corinthians 4:7-9, 16-17). How could you remind fellow Christians of these truths in hard times?

• Can you find the verses Kyren quoted from John 1 and 2 Corinthians 4? (If you want to dive even deeper, read Psalm 112:4; 139:7-12; John 14:16-17; Romans 8:31; and 1 John 4:4.)

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12 (NIV)