Click on the link to see pictures illustrating this weeks installment in the magazine of The Girl God Rescued.

THE GIRL GOD RESCUED, BONUS 5

Here is more bonus material for the continued story in this week’s Guide.

See bonus photos from the previous installment of The Girl God Rescued here.
See bonus photos from the next installment of The Girl God Rescued here.

The
terrible thing about living at Juvenile Hall was the fact that I felt I had
lost myself. Those in charge of Juvenile Hall took every piece of clothing that
I was wearing. I didn’t have a book or pencil familiar to me. Everything seemed
so dark because I didn’t understand why I lived in a “jail” or what would
happen to me in the days ahead.

Times
of darkness come to almost everyone and that’s why it is so good to discover
that a loving Creator is ready to ease our way and help us conquer our
difficulties. Even before God helped me leave Juvenile Hall and return home, He
“eased” my way.

When
I learned to scuba dive, it amazed me how God often eases the way of ocean
creatures when they face darkness, just as He had eased my way. I enjoyed
diving during the sunny portion of the day because I could see creatures
flitting about the reef, slithering over the sand and peaking from behind coral
pillars.

Everything
looked different in the darkness. Night diving felt strange. I carried three
lights to make sure I had light and
back-up light. It felt scary because I could only see a small area at a time. I
didn’t know what creatures might be lurking about. And they do lurk! Tarpons
lurk in 35-foot deep crevices in the coral walls. They cruise back and forth
like nervous, restless, eating machines just waiting for nightfall so they can
swim to the shallow reef and get about the business of finding prey.

Sally in an ocean crevice

I
worried about what fish would do at night when predators cruised the reef. But
I smiled when I found fish sleeping in an anemone or sponges, or snuggled up
against coral.

Zzzzzzzzzz . . . 

I
thought I saw a new species of fish when I spotted one that looked like a blue
tang. It moved slowly back and forth in a crevice. Its white stripes confused
me. Later I realized that the tang puts on stripes, as do many other sea
creatures, as soon as the sun sets. This hides it from enemies. I decided to
call this “wearing pajamas” because these colors are worn only at night.

 Blue tangs

A
dark moment for a crab can be when it gets flipped over by a diver or some
creature it meets in the reef. It must turn over or die. But a caring God has
taught it to stick out a claw and flip over. It might take many tries, but most
of the time the crab is successful and scampers off to find a meal. Even
gastropods or snail shells must learn to flip over. They won’t just lie there
on their backs and give up.

Fish,
like people, have different personalities. That’s what makes watching fish so
much fun. On a shallow night dive to the reef off Cayman Island, a chub swam
right up to me and bounced itself off my mask. It certainly took a close look
at me. I sprawled over onto my back, waving my arms and legs to get flipped
over. I learned the technique from the crabs!

Sally and friend having more underwater fun

The
rock beauty is a fish with the opposite personality. It hides during the day as
well as at night. This midnight black and daffodil yellow fish just won’t stay
still and it won’t come out of a crevice for more than an instant. I’d love to get
a long, satisfying look at it, but usually he best I get is a glance

The
twin lights of knowledge and understanding help blast the darkness in life just
as my dive light, the UK400, cuts a bright path for me to follow through the ocean
at night. No wonder God calls Himself the “Light of the World.”

All photos by Sally Streib ( Sally@seansee.net ) and Clyde Thomas and
Reggie Thomas (MomentsInNature.org).

See bonus photos from the previous installment of The Girl God Rescued here.