The Night God Spoke Through the Northern Lights

A personal story of awe, loneliness, and the unmistakable presence of God on a quiet Minnesota lake.

When I was sixteen, I spent a few days staying at my uncle's home north of Stillwater, Minnesota. I was there because my mind felt heavy, far too heavy for a kid my age. By sixteen, I had already faced what seemed like a long list of failures, confusion, and pain. Even though I was surrounded by family, I felt deeply and painfully alone.

One late night I could not sleep. The house was quiet, but my thoughts were loud. Instead of lying in bed with my worries, I walked down to the shore, untied the boat, and drifted slowly out toward the center of the lake.

The lake that night was like glass. The water was perfectly calm, the air still, and the sky completely clear. I dropped the anchor, lay back near the front of the boat, and stared up into the stars. There were more of them than I had ever noticed before. Out in that calm darkness, I felt very small, but not in a hopeless way. It was a reminder of how vast the universe is and how tiny my problems seemed compared to the sky stretching over me.

The Moment the Sky Came Alive

After about an hour of quiet, something changed. The sky began to brighten in a strange and gentle way. At first I saw faint streaks on the horizon. Then the light grew, climbed, and spread. Before I fully understood what was happening, the entire sky erupted.

Curtains of color flowed above me, green and red and hints of purple, moving as if they were alive. From where I sat, it looked as though the aurora was circling the lake itself. Light seemed to rise from the shore in every direction, so that I was sitting in the very center of a glowing ring. The still water caught the reflection and doubled the beauty until it felt like the lake was lit from beneath.

The sight was so powerful and so beautiful that I began to cry. The tears were not from sadness. They came from awe. I had never seen anything so breathtaking. No phone, no camera, and no picture on the internet then or now could ever come close to what that moment truly looked like.

A Sixteen Year Old Who Felt Alone

Looking back now, I can see clearly what I only sensed dimly then. I was not out on that lake by accident. I was not awake at that hour by accident. The timing of that aurora was not random. In one of the hardest seasons of my young life, God met me there in the middle of the water.

I believe that night was the Lord's way of reminding me that I was not alone and that I had never really been alone. The same God who spoke light into existence was more than able to paint the sky over one small lake in Minnesota at the exact moment a hurting sixteen year old needed to know that He was near.

The Bible says, "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork" (Psalm 19:1, NKJV). On that night, the heavens did not only declare His glory in a general sense. They declared His kindness and His nearness to one young person who felt completely unseen.

Creation Testifies to the Creator

The aurora borealis is one of the most stunning natural displays in creation. Scientists can describe how charged particles from the sun collide with atoms in our atmosphere and release light. They can map out when and where the aurora is likely to appear.

All of that science is fascinating, but behind the process stands a Person. God designed the laws that govern the sun, the solar wind, and the magnetic field that surrounds our planet. When the sky erupts with color, it is not an accident. It is a faint reflection of a God whose power, beauty, and creativity are beyond what we can measure.

Why This Moment Still Matters

I have carried that memory with me for many years. It remains one of the clearest reminders in my life that God is not distant. He is near, even when our hearts feel cold and our minds feel crowded with regret and fear. He knows when we are overwhelmed. He knows when we feel forgotten. And He knows how to speak to us in ways that we will not forget.

Solar Ruler exists in part because of that experience. I want more people to look up, to notice what God has built into the sky, and to realize that this world did not make itself. Behind the shifting lights of the aurora is a Creator who sees, knows, and loves His children.

If you ever have the chance to see the Northern Lights in person, I hope you not only enjoy the show, but also remember the One who spoke light into existence and still uses His creation to point us back to Himself.