BREAKING THROUGH THE CLOUDS

BREAKING THROUGH THE CLOUDS - Contributed by Jane Rager

Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.

All the rainy weather we are experiencing this spring reminds me of a week back in the 80’s when my children were young.  It had been raining all week and the dreariness of it all seeped into our lives.  There was nothing really outstanding, I just remember that nothing seemed to be going very well and we were all exhausted, grumpy and just tired of the relentless gloom.  Then the phone rang.  It was my favorite aunt who had retired to Florida several years before.  She told me that my uncle had passed away and asked me if I could come quickly to help her out. I said that of course I would be there as soon as I could.  I put down the phone, closed my eyes and said “God, where are you? Are you still there?”

The next few hours were a whirlwind of activity as we planned and got ready for my departure to Florida.  My husband would stay home with the children and I would fly down the next day.  It would be my first commercial flight. And the rain continued.  It was still raining when my family dropped me off at the airport. 

I boarded the plane and found my seat still asking God where he was in all of this. The stewardess gave us our emergency instructions and we settled in. As the plane picked up speed going down the runway, it dawned on me that we were going right into the clouds.  I wondered if we would be in the clouds the whole way to Florida. I closed my eyes tightly, grabbed both armrests and prayed. 

After what seemed like a very long time, I felt the plane level off.  I slowly opened one eye and then the other and saw, to my amazement, that we were above the clouds. They looked like a puffy carpet below us. The sun was shining brightly and the sky was pure blue. The sight took my breath away and put tears in my eyes.   It dawned on me then that just like the sun, God was always in the same place. Sometimes clouds simply come between us.  I began to smile and then laughed out loud. 

This lesson has stayed with me over time.  I know that no matter what happens, God is in the same place loving us and caring for us. We only need to control the cloud cover if we can and if we can’t, we need to have faith that the sun will come out and we will feel the closeness of God once again.