One night when driving home from work, I saw a beautiful rainbow northeast of me. As I admired its beauty, thoughts of God’s promises and faithfulness to us mentioned in Genesis flooded my mind.
But then I noticed the storm behind it. It was producing a heavy amount of rain and lightning. It was very dark and looked like a dangerous storm. I began praying for those who were in its path, concerned for people I did not know, nor ever would, asking God to protect them and provide for their needs.
Then the Lord spoke to my heart. “Are you willing to let the storms in your life become someone else’s rainbow?” I meditated on that the rest of the way home. How many times when I am going through something, do my eyes get fixed on me? This is just too painful… why is this happening to me… where is God in all of this?
If only I could remember in those times that God is right there, in me, as I am to be His dwelling place. He is going through it with me. Can I get past my pain and let God use the situation that the enemy or life has put in my path to do an eternal work in me? Can I get past myself, allowing God to show Himself faithful to others by watching me go through this storm?
Then He reminded me how sometimes I try to run away from my problems and the storms that come my way, even though I know that in the storm is where His faithfulness comes shining through. Simply stated, you and I have to face the storm to see the rainbow ourselves!
Those are things that I now think about when I am going through trials. While at times I still focus on me, I have learned that it is a waste of time and energy searching for answers that aren’t here to find.
While God is good and wants the best for me, the world is in a fallen state due to sin. Since I am in this world, I will experience trials, some of my own doing and others that may seem unfair. But God can turn it around, even going so far as making it a blessing in some way, for me and those around me.
Even Christ was unjustly tortured and put 
to death as a criminal (talk about a major storm in life), but God took an unjust act and used it to justify you and me! (Now that is a fabulous rainbow for all of us from His storm!)
Won’t you pray with me: Father, please, may the storms in my life become someone else’s rainbow, so they can see your faithfulness and love for them!
Laura Diehl is an award-winning author, 
national speaker and singer. She and her husband, Dave, are the founders of Grieving Parents Sharing Hope (GPS Hope). Dave and Laura travel full time in their Hope Mobile (a 38-foot motor home) to be more easily available for speaking and ministry requests.
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GPS Hope exists to walk with grieving parents through the suffocating darkness of child-loss to a place of hope, light and purpose.
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mentor and disciple the younger generations for leadership. I have seen a church community struggling to have a vibrant outreach to families, where the entire leadership was in their 50’s and 60’s when they finally started to mentor the generation in its 40’s.
faith, but too often we don’t allow the children themselves to come to Him with their faith! How very sad, both for them and for us.
away from us in a way that makes us not fully realize it is part of life. As 
don’t even have five minutes from now. We each have the exact moment we are in. (Ray also is living with Parkinson’s and he refuses to just give in, missing out on what life still has to offer. He is living life to the fullest as much as possible as his disease progresses and does in a month more than most of us will do in a year.)
us, and even change for each of us in the different seasons of life. But whatever season you and I are in, even if it is a season of deep grief, I pray we will be able to do so in a way that gives life.
When we see a race, whether it be runners, cars or horses, everyone at least starts in their own lane. In a few races the competitors stay in their own lane, but on many race tracks they converge into one bundle of racers. Either way, they are all on the same track and are competing against each other to see who comes in first place.
We sometimes need to remind ourselves that is not how God set it up. Yes, we are all in a race, but we all have our own separate track to run on. We are not competing against anyone else. In Hebrews 12:1 Paul tells us, “Since we have such a huge crowd of men of faith watching us from the grandstands, let us strip off anything that slows us down or holds us back, and especially those sins that wrap themselves so tightly around our feet and trip us up; and let us run with patience the particular race that God has set before us.” (TLB) The NIV Bible says to “…run with perseverance the race marked out for us”.
else’s race. Let’s think about this. Why doesn’t a long-distance runner compete as a sprinter? Because he has the tools for endurance, not speed. Why doesn’t a shot-put thrower enter the hurdles race or the pole vault? Because he has the arm muscles to throw, not the legs to jump.
There is a wonderful consequence of running the race we are created for. It brings excitement, joy and contentment, so that we no longer see ourselves on the same track competing with each other or trying to run someone else’s race. We can speak with confidence the same words as Paul in Acts 20:24, “… that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus…”
word new doesn’t have to fill our hearts with dread and sadness. But that doesn’t mean we don’t struggle going into a new year. And as we go along, some years can be harder than others, for no apparent reason.
The other side of that is not understanding why people get freaked out when we talk about our child. As a parent, just because our child isn’t around us, doesn’t mean we don’t talk about them. It is the same for those of us whose child has died. Our children have just traveled to a place further away than most children who might take a trip. And they won’t be returning to us here; we will be going to meet them some day. But they still exist, they are still deeply loved, and they will remain in our hearts and minds until we are with them again.
makes everything look so dead (depending on where we live), and it can really affect our mood. However, it is just a season, and new life always returns, no matter how harsh or how long the winter has been.
A new year can bring new hope, new light, new life and new possibilities.
