The Sun Shines
By Hannah Rodgers
I recently took a trip on an airplane. I had to leave early in the morning so it was dark as I headed to the airport. The weather was dreary, as it is often in Ohio in February. Overcast skies hung heavy as we took off and the plane even experienced some turbulence as we made our ascent. Then suddenly, as we reached the top of the clouds, the sun came dazzling through the window. It was so bright it took a minute for my eyes to adjust. I tried to remember the last time I had seen the sun and after a few minutes I jokingly figured it probably hadn’t shone since sometime in November. But then I paused, that obviously wasn’t right. The sun was shining now, so brightly I wished I’d put my sunglasses in my carry-on. It wasn’t that the sun hadn’t shone since Thanksgiving, I just couldn’t see it. The Lord then laid a Bible verse and a lesson on my heart.
Daniel 2:22 “He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.” Sometimes while we are deep in the storms of life we can get focused only on what we can see. In this case it would be the overcast skies and dreariness that comes with winter months. But what is easy to forget is that the sun is still shining on the other sides of the clouds. Once we know He is there, our perspective can be changed forever. In fact, on my plane trip back I looked forward to breaking through and seeing the sun shine above the clouds. I was hopefully looking up at the gloomy, overcast sky just because I knew that there was something beautiful waiting for me on the other side. This experience grounded me further in God’s graciousness and reminded me of a story I had the pleasure of writing a little less than a year ago.
Latricia and her daughters (pictured left) came to Haven of Rest after they were evicted from their home and had nowhere else to go. Even though their lives seemed to be in turmoil, the Lord was working for their good even when He was hard to see. At the end of their five month stay, Latricia was on her way to building her own catering business and she had a safe place for her and her daughters to live. (To read Latricia’s full story, click here)
Praise God that He is working for our good even when we are distracted by the ugliness that can be in this world. We may not be able to see overtly how God is working out good in our lives, He is still battling for and blessing us. Please pray with me that men, women and children who are in the storms of life, like Latricia and her daughters were, would trust in the Lord and follow Him to the beautiful places He is preparing for them.
