Rain and Sunshine

On my way to church last night, I saw a full-length rainbow.  It had rained just a few hours earlier, and a beautiful spectrum of colors remained against the dark grey sky.  God gave us the rainbow as a sign of His promise to Noah that He would never again destroy the entire earth by a flood.  Usually when I look at rainbows, that's as far as my observation goes.  This time, however, my contemplations went beyond Noah.

I love reading good, challenging Christian books.  Right now, I am spending a lot oftime on Elisabeth Elliot's Passion and Purity. It's Jim and Elisabeth's love story, which has an abundance of insight into God's Word, serving Him, and (naturally) love.

In one chapter of the book,  Jim professed his love to Elisabeth but did not feel God wanted him to marry at the time.  He left for Ecuador, and she stayed at school in Oklahoma, continuing to serve God and wait on Him. Elisabeth describes one evening she spent alone with God at the top of a stadium in Oklahoma.  As she was sitting there alone, pouring her heart out to God, she noticed "just the scrap of a rainbow" in the sky.  It was a great encouragement to her on that lonely evening.

Just like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is never found, sometimes we can never even get a glimpse of the end of our trials. But, we can trust God that there is an end, and that He won't push us past what we can handle.  There is also a purpose to our suffering: to make us more like Christ and to demonstrate His beauty to others.  All rainbows are made of rain and sunshine.  Through the rain, allow yourself to radiate God's love, joy, and peace, bringing beauty into the lives of others.

Maybe now when you see a rainbow, you'll not only remember God's promise, but also how He created the rainbow--with rain and sunshine.

LC (High School Senior)

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