The past year has been a roller coaster of emotional upheaval. Several deaths in my extended family pushed me into a dark place last summer.  It kept me down in that dark place for about 7 months.  The only thing that kept me alive was reading the Psalms. Day after day I would find a new word that revealed God in all of his glory to me.  I think that one of the contributing factors was the physical darkness of winter.  When Spring came and the days started getting longer and sunnier, my spiritual darkness lifted.  Joy in God increased to the place that I felt that he was with me.  It is amazing when the physical aspects of my life affect the emotional aspects and the spiritual aspects. They are tied together so closely.  One of my desires is to move south to avoid those long, dark days that are so prominent in this latitude.