SHADOW

It started with a walk home one evening.

The sun was almost gone, leaving the streets painted in that soft, in-between light that comes before night fully arrives. She had her earphones in, half-listening to a song she’d played too many times before. Her thoughts were louder anyway.

It had been a long week, one of those weeks that drained her quietly. Nothing dramatic had happened, just the slow, heavy ache of questions with no answers. She had prayed, she had smiled, she had shown up. But something inside her still felt tired.

As she walked, she noticed her shadow stretching long across the road. It followed her step for step. Bending when she bent, turning when she turned. For a moment she stopped walking, just to see if it would stop too~ It did.

And that’s when she whispered to herself, almost laughing, “So, you won’t leave either?”

But her laughter faded as quickly as it came. Because it hit her — the shadow wasn’t just a reflection on the ground. It felt like a picture of her life lately: things that refused to leave; Fear! Regret! The quiet feeling of being unseen!

Everywhere she went, they followed.

Shadows have a way of showing up even when we wish they wouldn’t. Sometimes, they look like unanswered prayers. Sometimes, they sound like doubts we thought we outgrew. Sometimes, they feel like guilt from a past that’s supposed to be forgiven. But that evening, standing on that quiet street, she noticed something else. Her shadow only appeared because of the light behind her. If there had been no light at all, there wouldn’t have been a shadow — just darkness.

It was such a simple truth, but it landed deeply.

The shadow wasn’t proof of darkness. It was proof that light existed somewhere close. That realization stayed with her. For days after, she couldn’t stop thinking about how many times she had misread the shadows in her life. How often she had assumed that uncertainty meant God was far away when maybe, it was just something standing between her and His light. Because that’s what shadows are. They’re not absence; they’re interruption.

Light hasn’t disappeared something has only gotten in the way.

And isn’t that life sometimes?

The moments when you can’t feel God’s presence, when the prayers seem to bounce back, when hope feels thin, when joy looks like a memory, it’s easy to think the Light is gone. But it’s not. You’re just standing where something temporarily blocks your view.

David understood this in Psalm 23:4 when he wrote, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.”

He didn’t say the shadow disappeared. He didn’t say the valley was short. He said, I walk through it. Because shadows move. And more importantly they don’t last.

The presence of the shadow only means there’s light somewhere near. It’s not a sign to panic; it’s a reminder to turn. When you turn your face toward the light, the shadow always falls behind you.

Jesus’ disciples once found themselves surrounded by shadows too not on a road, but in a storm (Mark 4:35–41). They were in a boat with Him when the waves grew wild and the sky turned dark. Jesus was asleep resting while they panicked. “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re perishing?” they cried. And Jesus woke up, looked at the storm, and said, “Peace, be still.” Immediately, the wind stopped. The waves calmed.

The same light that created the world was lying in their boat. Sometimes our lives look like that loud winds, restless hearts, and a sleeping Savior. But the light doesn’t have to shout to prove it’s there. It only has to shine and when it does, the shadows go quiet. Maybe that’s what faith really looks like not pretending the shadows don’t exist, but remembering they can’t stay when light comes. Maybe it’s learning to rest in the truth that the same God who spoke “Let there be light” still speaks today over your confusion, over your delay, over your waiting.

Because darkness never wins. It never has.

John 1:5 says, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” That means every shadow that once frightened you ,every doubt, every fear, every what-if already knows its ending. When light comes, it fades.

So this month, as you step forward, remember this:

•Your shadow is not your story. Your light is. Don’t be afraid of what follows you; instead, face the One who goes before you.

•Let God’s light touch the corners of your life that have been dim for too long. Let His presence fill the places where worry used to live. Let Him remind you that the very thing you fear is proof that His light is near. When His light comes, shame can’t stay.

Fear loses voice and peace takes over because the presence of God doesn’t argue with darkness. It replaces it.

That evening walk, the one that started with tired thoughts and a long shadow ended differently. As she reached her door, she turned once more to look behind her. The streetlight had shifted, and her shadow had disappeared.And right there, she smiled. Not because everything made sense, but because she finally understood that the shadow wasn’t proof of darkness but a proof that light had been with her all along.

Maybe the reason shadows unsettle us is because they remind us of how easily we forget that light exists. We panic when the path grows dim, forgetting that darkness doesn’t mean absence rather something is standing between.

Take this one thing home:every shadow is evidence of light nearby. You can’t have a shadow in complete darkness. You can’t have fear unless faith is still somewhere close. You can’t have uncertainty unless clarity is waiting to be revealed. So, instead of fighting the shadow, learn from it. Ask it what it’s trying to show you. Maybe it’s revealing what’s blocking your light ,a fear you need to surrender, a habit you need to release, a truth you need to face. And when you finally turn toward the source, the shadow loses its form.

This is what grace looks like — not the absence of shadows, but the courage to face the light again.

Because the moment you look up, everything changes. Peace returns! Clarity comes! And what once frightened you becomes proof that light was always near.

Happy new month❤️