Amanda Engstrom
Over the years, God has used the weather to speak to my heart. One morning, several years ago during a challenging time in my life, God used His creation to help me understand Him even more.
It was a late spring morning; thunderstorms had been moving through our area. Rain was falling as we pulled out of the garage, but we could also see the sun peeking out on the eastern horizon. My son said, “How can the sun be shining while it’s raining?” We drove down the driveway and found a rainbow in the western sky. The rainbow stretched across the sky as bolts of lightning flashed out of the dark thunder clouds beneath it. To the east the rising sun shone golden through broken clouds.
And there I sat in the middle.
And it felt like I was seeing with my eyes what I was walking through in life.
There was a storm. Saturated ground kept getting poured on with even more rain. There were ponds in the ditches because the ground couldn’t take in anymore. But the rains kept coming. The blinding bolts of lightning and loud claps of thunder couldn’t be ignored.
The storm was there, but…so was the sun. So was the rainbow. They couldn’t be ignored either. And without the sun, without the rain, there would be no rainbow.
They have to be there together.
Even though it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Rain. Lightning. Thunder. Sunshine. Rainbow. All at once. I felt like God was telling me, “I’m here with you in the storm. Yes, the storm is here—with its thunder, lightning and flooding rains. BUT I am still God. I am still shining. And as the rainbow represents my promise, you too can trust my promises.”
It’s natural to wish for the blue skies dotted with fluffy, white clouds and a gentle breeze. But we can’t control the weather.
And we can’t control the unpredictable circumstances of life. We have to trust God. We have to stand on his promises and weather the storm with His help.
