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Hi there, welcome to Well Lit Soul, where we seek God, face darkness, and shine brighter. This week we will finish our 3-part series where we talk through the objective of Well Lit Soul. So, today’s blog is part 3 called: Shine Brighter | Components of a Strong Light.

One of my favorite parts of working in Higher Education was supporting student growth and development. And some of my favorite graduate courses were the ones where we got to learn the various theories and frameworks to better understand all the ways students can grow. And I want to bring that same energy to Well Lit Soul. 

So, I’ve created a framework for how to cultivate a strong inner light. Now, I would need to conduct some valid, empirical research to have a legitimate theory or credible framework. And Lord willing, that would happen one day. But for now, this is where I’m starting. 

This framework for a strong spiritual light has four components: 

1. High trust in God 

2. To have and know the love of God 

3. Face personal darkness 

4. Steadily consume light 

Now, I could do a whole workshop fully breaking this down and outlining points of application. But for the sake of the blog, I’ll keep this high level. However, if you want a deep dive, let me know and we can arrange that. 

These components are in no particular order and the work done to meet them can, and likely will, happen concurrently. But I’ll start with “high trust in God”. Knowing that we are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27), we are inherently wired to be like God and to want to be close to Him. So if our faith in Him is shaky, weak, or non-existent, our light will be too. So in order to shine brightly, we have to know God, be aligned with Him, and trust in His word. We need to have confidence that He is never slack concerning His promises and move with assurance knowing He is in control and His will is good, 2 Peter 3:9, Hebrews 13:5-6.

The second component is to know without a shadow of a doubt that you are deeply loved. And this is not necessarily feeling loved, which is fine. But feelings fade and they can also lie to you. This is instead knowing without question in your heart, soul, and mind that you are loved by friends, family, and God. Once again, being made in the image of God, He knows that our most important work will be to love Him and to love our neighbors as ourselves, Matthew 22:36-39. And if we don’t know the love of Christ or how to give and receive it, our lights will suffer. 

Third is more of a fill in the blank option because it calls you to face your own personal darkness. We talked about this in last week’s post, but our light will never be as bright as it can be if we run from the challenges in our life and ignore the things that cause us pain. If we brush past the hurt and avoid the hard work required to reside in the storm, we will always carry this dimness within us. So if we want to shine brightly, we have to take courage and face our fears and know that these trials produce patience (James 1:2-4) and all fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). 

The fourth and final component is to consume more light than darkness. With endless scrolling and advanced algorithms, we are in a point in time where we can ingest content without even thinking. Consumption is less of a purposeful act and more of a subconscious habit. So it’s easy to consume a lot of negative content. And I don’t just mean things that are unrighteous or sinful, but also things that are low quality and draining on the spirit. Things that keep your mind occupied but not engaged. But if we can manage and control our spiritual diet and the content we consume, I think our lights will be much better for it (see Light for Breakfast). As Jesus says in Matthew 6:22-23,

22 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

So yet again, we find that it takes a lot of hard work to be a well lit soul. Having full trust in God, knowing His love, facing personal darkness, and consistently consuming strong, quality light is not easy by any means. But the hope is that we can work alongside each other and share the load to ensure we can keep the faith and finish the race Galatians 6:1-2, 2 Timothy 4:7-8. And if you need a bit of encouragement or some extra light on your path, I’m here for you. Reach out any time. I got you friend.

Connection Question: Which of these four components do you have a good grasp on? Which of them do you need more help with? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to connect with you about it.