On a rare occasion we could have an overcast day ... ALL day. If I was back in California, the would be a normal winter day. However, we live in Colorado ... we have only a few of those days, and in the summer, not winter. This summer we seemed to have more than normal.
Our family is just like yours. We have our good days. We have our bad. We have our challenges, and our mountains to climb, just like anyone else. And we also face our storms. This summer my husband has been home ... everyday. He was laid off on April 30th from the job that brought us to Colorado in the first place. We planned on this being a temporary situation...one month off at the max. But we are getting ready to face five months off. He has had some interviews, only to hear a polite "sorry, we are going with another candidate". We wonder if age is a role in all this. We point fingers at the job he once had and start blaming the problems they have caused. Regret comes in as he didn't finish his college degree. Fear comes in. Fear goes as we continue to trust in God. Wondering what God's will is remains the daily question, for the past five months. Bitterness comes. Bitterness goes. Doubt comes. Doubt goes. This is our storm, our mountain even. We don't know where we are in the climb either ... are we still at the beginning and have more days like this? Or are we somewhere in between? Have we reached the top yet? Are blue skies even in the forecast?
We went for a drive to get away from this mountain and storm we face each day and it was one of our overcast days. God showed me something.
Being that we were heading in the middle of "no where", I could literally see miles and miles of clouds. Not one break. But yet no matter how dark the skies were, I knew it was daytime, and I even knew that somewhere behind those clouds the sun was there. The knowing is certain. The sun remains. It is there.
"Be still and know that I am God;" continues to rattle in my brain these days. It is the answers I hear to so many prayers. I have questioned how to even be still. Do I quit my job, and sit? Or do I just simply silence my speech? Do I just trust? I don't know what I'm suppose to do but just "be still". But my battle remains: what does this look like?
Yet I see this cloudy sky.
I know there is a sun behind the clouds. And being that I even know the direction I'm heading and the time of day it is ... I can have a good guess as to where exactly it is. However, being that I'm moving 75 miles per hour on an interstate, in a different time zone and even in an area I'm not completely familiar with ... I would be surprised to find out that my guess of where the sun is, is off. But if I were to sit still, if I were to watch and see and study the days prior to this storm I would know exactly where the sun is when the storm rolled in.
And there you have it.
"Be still and know that I am God."
Watch. See. Study.
And when the storms of life roll in, and the mountain climb seems too strenuous you too will know where the son is in all this. You may not see him, but you know full well He is there and exactly where He said He'll be.
Be still and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.
Psalm 46:10
The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you;
he will never eave you nor forsake you.
Do not be afraid;
do not be discouraged
Deuteronomy 31:8
Do not be afraid.
Stand firm and you will see the deliverance
the Lord will bring you today.
The Lord will fight for you;
you need only to be still.
Exodus 14:13-14
