A few years ago, during an especially stressful time in my life, I was on a plane leaving Seattle, Washington. It was my first visit to Seattle and I had fallen in love with everything about the emerald city.I loved the good food, the welcoming, friendly people we met and the beautiful sites we saw. I loved the drizzly, rainy days and the cool January air. I loved that my hair could just be a frizzy, wavy, unkempt thing in all of that moisture!
As the plane took off, the sky was thick with rain clouds, but something amazing happened as the plane ascended into the heavens. As soon as the plane was above the clouds, there was a bright warm sun! I've been in planes before and I've always known that there is sun above the rain clouds, but the contrast this time really impacted me.
I was feeling the warmth of the sun through the window and thinking how chilly I had been down on the ground. I couldn't help but snap a picture on my phone as I looked in awe at the extreme difference that my perspective had made.
That got me thinking about my perspective compared to God's perspective. When I am in the middle of a difficult, stressful time in my life, all I can see is the dark rain clouds of my problems. I feel frustrated and discouraged that I can't see an end to the problem I am struggling with. But in reality, there is sun on the other side of the clouds.
There is hope on the other side of my struggles. And not only can I look forward with hope that there will be sunny days ahead for me, I can also look for the sun during the storms.
When I was thinking of a name for this blog, I knew that I wanted it to represent the hope that I have felt during difficult times. I want to share that hope because this life is hard and we can all use a reminder that there is reason to hope.
I thought of the hopeful phrase, "Every cloud has a silver lining." What makes the silver lining around the cloud? It is the sun shining on the other side. Even if we can't see the sun, it can cast a silver lining on those storm clouds.
When I think of the sun, I also think of the Son of God. He is the reason we can always find hope. He is the way, the truth and the light. When I have a hard time feeling that hope, (and in the past year and a half I have had more of those days than ever before in my life) I can pray and ask my loving Heavenly Father to fill me with that hope. The amazing thing is, it really is that simple.
It is okay if we don't feel hope, we can ask for that hope and it can be given to us. I have tried this over and over again and it really works.
No matter how thick the storm clouds are, the sun is always there and so is the Son.
