Riding the storm

Did you ever get the feeling that things are going just a little too smoothly?  After seven months of my house being up for sale, I felt like I was finally sailing along this week.  Then, clouds began to form today.

Sitting, watching clouds form and darkness swirling around is unsettling.  You know there's a storm coming, but there's no certainty of what it will be like or how long it will last.  It could be blustery and tornadic, aka fast and furious.  Or it could be like a huge front, slowly passing through, taking a lot longer to clear.  I'm not certain one is preferable over the other.  Either way, it's going to be messy.

One thing I do know is that it will eventually be clear.  The sky will be blue.  The air will be clean.  How I come out on the other side is largely dependent on what I do in it's midst.  Someone once told me "not to question in the darkness what was spoken in the light".  I think that applies to a storm.  It boils down to holding on, buckling down and facing the storm head on.  I might be in for a bumpy ride, but there will be a rainbow on the other side.

Rainbow sky

As I driving, I looked up at the sun.  There was a thin ring of clouds surrounding it.  They were just thin enough to allow sunlight to pass through, making it look like mother of pearl.  It was like rainbow light.  That's the second time this week I've seen something like that.  Immediately, I thought about the promise God gave Noah in the rainbow.  But I haven't been able to figure out what promise I'm being promted to remember.

Promises are strange things.  By definition, it portends something yet to come and should be something you can count on happening.  I've found that can change depending on the person, both the promiser and the promisee.  But the point is, I don't put much faith in human promises.  People "forget" or "weren't serious".  I find people use the word promise as a type of manipulation.  It gets the person to do what you want, and you don't really have to follow through.

But the promises I've had from God are true.  There is no need for me to question if he will forget or just change his mind.  He remembers long after I forget.  In the midst of turmoil, pain or selling a freaking house, he whispers "I promised".  That doesn't change the external things going on in my life, but it makes a huge internal shift.