About the Author

Jennifer is an artist living in rural Nebraska with her US Army veteran husband. She loves to create and seeks to reflect the beauty of Christ and encourage others in meaningful, beautiful ways. You can find her and see more of her art on Studio JRU.

(in)side DaySpring: things we love
& you will too!
Find more at DaySpring.com
(in)side DaySpring:
things we love
& you will too!
Find more at
DaySpring.com
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  1. Jennifer,
    I love your shot of the moon…gorgeous! God’s very own nightlight to us. When my children were little they needed/wanted a nightlight to help them not feel afraid in the dark. Being an adult in this world right now, I feel like I need a nightlight….we all do. Jesus is that light to illuminate our way. I also believe that, like you said, we are called to reflect Him. With all the naysayers and gloom dispensers (especially with our current political climate), people need to hear, now more than ever, where our hope comes from….that there is an eternal hope and peace that can be theirs. The world is ripe for me to be a reflecting nightlight…I pray that I can be that!
    Blessings and prayers for safety for those in the hurricane’s path,
    Bev

    • Thanks Jennifer
      I needed this as I sit and wait in the general path of Hurricane Matthew here in SC. I am open to reflect the light of the Lord, even in the clouds and darkness of the world. And thank you Bev for your prayers. And my prayers go out to our brothers and sisters in Haiti and other places in the Caribbean who are struggling in the aftermath.
      ~ Kay

  2. I love in the country as well, and love those nights when the stars are so visible that I can see the three dimensional aspect of distance up there. Light is such a terrific Scriptural metaphor, and you’ve given it new life in my imagination today! Thank you.

  3. What a spectacular photo! May I use it as my cover on Facebook? It will remind me of this powerful message, that we are called to reflect His light onto the darkness in the world, as the moon reflects the light of the sun onto our darkness.

      • I don’t see the watermark on the photo, maybe because it is mostly so dark, but i put the pic up and already had the opportunity to share the story, the reminder- We are to reflect His light.

  4. When I moved from Atlanta out to a suburb in the country, I went from the skyline lighting my night to having to depend on a drive way light to find my trash can. I stared into the darkness, the woods. The critter noises, a whiny train whistle that sounded like a tornado coming, and there was the moon. Darkness, especially, spiritual darkness is a frightening place, but God created, and it’s still good if He’s there. And I love the wording, we depend on Him for our beauty.

  5. Thank you for your inspiring words, Jennifer: ” Let His grace shine through you. Shine with your words and your actions. With your entire life.” GRACE is one of those little one-syllable words whose meaning is huge. Praise God for the privilege to reflect his GRACE through our words and actions. What an impactful, uplifting perspective!

  6. Jennifer,

    I, too, live in the country. My neighbors have a street lamp in their driveway, but that is all the light we get. This world is getting so bad that I have found myself asking God “How long O Lord, till you come back?” It feels like Sodom and Gomorrah. I try to shine my light by going to see my aging dad 4 or so days a week at the assisted living and talking with the other residents there. They need hugs and smiles. Their days can be long and lonely. I help with “Feed the Multitude” in our community. Our church bakes cookies, cupcakes and brownies for 250+ people once a month-another church makes the meal. I have gone to help serve the food to the needy families. For all I know that could easily be me.

    Blessings 🙂

  7. In January, when the days were shortest and the light most scarce, I chose my word of the year to be LIGHT. I am so encouraged that we aren’t called to have enough power to ignite a light, only to be willing reflections of His radiance. Those words “darkness has not overcome it”…so sweet to me when the world shouts otherwise. Thank you for these words, and that one word in particular. LIGHT.

  8. Wow! This is such a beautiful devotional (and photo)! Thank you for sharing your heart, for letting us see all the beauty that God has worked in you!

  9. What an honor to reflect the light of God. This world has a lot of darkness and it can get us down, so thanks for the reminder that the dark will not overcome the light. The light always wins. Always.

  10. Ladies , I want to say I agree with all of your comment. We as children of God need to be the light that the world needs. I work in the world as most of you do, and when I listen to to people talk about how unhappy they are, an try to tell you the things they do to be happy is frightening to me. We need to be that person who will tell about how God can help them throughout their struggle, even when sometime they pretend like they do want to here about him. We must be that voice of reason for a people that is trying to convince themselves they can live without the power of God. I am praying for those of you that are in the path of Matthew, I am from Jamaica and I am now living in Buffalo so I know what it feels like during a storm. Jennifer you really tough the heart of what we as children of God should focus on daily. Please continue to let God uses you for women around the world.