As I was nearing the final year of my journey back home to the Garden, I was encouraged by several people to watch a movie called ‘The Revenant.’ They all claimed it was a good movie, yet they all had the same underlying reservation – the movie was ‘dark.’ What was interesting about that observation was that I saw my own life journey in  the same way. I had always lived a good life, yet it was filled with so much darkness. How can that be? How can someone live a ‘good’ life, yet it be filled with times of darkness? It all comes down to how one perceives  darkness, and   the trials and tribulations that come along with it.

     Now let me be honest with you, I watched the movie and came away with a unique perspective. I did not see darkness, I saw light! After a lifetime full of what the world calls darkness my experiences have  led me to believe that this so called ‘darkness’ is a gift from God. What the world sees as darkness God sees as light shining through the darkness. Like in the movie, the lead character Hugh Glass, had to fight his way back from inevitable death. He crawled on his belly using his elbows to move forward and press on. Most people I know  would have just laid there and died. They would have given up. But what I have come to learn through all the darkness of my own life is that the ONLY way you ever lose in the battle of life is when you give up!

     I cannot tell you how many times along this journey back home to the Garden that I wanted to give up or turn around and head back towards the Wasteland where life was seemingly easier. Isn’t that the lie the Enemy tries to peddle, ‘Give up on God and the road less traveled and take the broad path filled with worldly comfort and familiarity.!” Of course, what  the Enemy does not tell us is that kind of life is empty, unfulfilling, and void of  eternal rewards. It is a selfish life filled with meaningless pleasures and instant gratification; but at what cost to one’s soul. It is not the life we were made for; it is not God’s best for us.

     So, ask yourself the question, what is God’s best life for me?  The answer is simple and applies to all of us. God’s best life for you and for me is one guided by His love, hope, creativity, and truth. It consists of open hands extended to help those in need and eyes focused upward towards heaven for direction. It is marked by gratitude, appreciation, and perseverance to continue when all seems lost. It allows God to work out his purpose in our life by yielding to His will as He leads us through the darkness and to the light. And just like Hugh Glass  we will develop perseverance  if we do not give up and our perseverance will lead us to deliverance.

In  2^nd Peter, the apostle states that if we add perseverance to our faith, it will keep us  from being ineffective and unproductive…”  Did you get that! Perseverance will indeed deliver us but for the purpose of being effective and productive in God’s economy. You see, He wants us to be overcomers so we can become multipliers; producing  thirty, sixty, or even a hundred fold.   

     In my journey from the Wasteland to the Garden I too have felt like a ‘Revenant!;  a person who has returned, especially supposedly from the dead.  That is the journey that awaits us all if we have the courage to persevere, and in so doing we can return home to the Garden as if alive from the dead. So, carry on my friends and never give up. Deliverance and a meaningful life await all Revenants!’

Dario L. Perla