the other side

We were driving home.  It had been a hard day.  It was one of those days where the roads were wet like it just poured, but the sun was shining as patches of sprinkles hit our windshield.  There were alternate colors in the sky as dark clouds merged with white clouds and you generally got the sense that the weather was battling it out.  My neck was incredibly sore after our day of treatment, and hope seemed to be resting like a rock in my gut. 

We drove country roads through both sunshine and rain while off to our right a beautiful, bright rainbow was shining in all it's surreal glory.  It seemed to beckon and mock all at the same time...I was in a MOOD.  (Is it just me, or does anyone else have those days?)

I decided to relish it rather than resent something beautiful in the midst of the storm cloud figuratively above my head.  We pulled over to take a picture, and then drove on while everyone in the car silently enjoyed the beauty.  I thought about God's promises.  That's why he put it there...to remind us that God keeps his promises.  I thought about the storm that Noah sloshed through, day after day.  I thought about the olive branch...a symbol of hope- a symbol of life.  We drove on, almost under the rainbow and then it was behind me.

The road ended and we turned a corner.  I craned my sore neck around my son to look at where the rainbow used to be, and said, "Wow."  My son said, "What?"  To which I said, "It's just crazy that you can see it from one side but not the other."  Then there was quiet, just absolute quiet in my head.  The Lord has not chosen to speak loudly to me in this season, but the few times He has, it has been absolute assurance.  I heard the gentle whisper in my heart that said, "Yes, Elizabeth, that is exactly where you are at.  You are on the other side...and you can't see the rainbow.  You are not through the storm yet, but that doesn't mean the rainbow isn't there.  My promises remain past what man can see."

No one likes to walk on the "other" side of the rainbow...the place that you reside in before the rains stop and the sun comes out to warm up the weathered earth.  I myself am speaking from a place that hasn't quite seen the sun clear away all the clouds and dry up the remnants of the storm.  Yet, I know that my God is good.  I know that His promises remain.  He is faithful, even when we walk in the places of life we try to avoid, and would never have asked to be in...the places that we dread.  For some, it may be a loss you are experiencing, an illness, a painful wound that refuses to heal in your heart or a cloud of unnamed depression that you can't seem to escape no matter how hard you try.

David of the Psalms has been in your shoes.  Job has been in your shoes.  Joseph has walked in your shoes.  They went through some big storms...and you know what they did?  They kept walking.  They kept trusting.  Like the woman in the gospels who had been ill for years, and reached out to touch Jesus, they kept their hearts longing and thirsting after a hope that they knew stretched beyond what their mortal eyes could see.  They walked on, holding tight to faith.  They did not let their hearts grow cold.

For the hurts we go through in this life, God does not waste a one of them.  Some of us will reach the other side of the storm on this earth, see the rainbow, and know the valued treasure that we attained by walking the dark spots with our Savior.  Some might never see the rainbow until heaven, when they see the full scope of their life, and the purpose behind every trial the Lord allowed them to journey through. 

But lets walk on, dear saints.  Let's keep trusting and holding onto Jesus when the drops keep falling and we don't know why.  Let's defy the defeat that longs to take hold on our heart and instead, claim the promises of Jesus in faith- not because we can see how things will all come together, but in spite of it.  That's what makes faith so precious...it is based on His ability, His faithfulness and righteousness, not our own.  You have a strong tower, and a rock to hold you firm and secure.  He is a light in the dark and a defeater of all that is evil.  We don't need to pretend that we are not in a storm, and we don't always have the strength to run and leap with joy in middle of the storm, but we can quietly and humbly walk on.  So let's do it.  (Even if it looks a bit more like a hobble.  We can just be hobblers.  It still counts.)

"I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.  Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD."

Psalm 27:13-14

My oldest son, Eli, took this picture for me out the car window.  No filter, just God.