Good morning…
“This week the shooting that took place at the high school in Winston Salem is literally right behind our home,” she texted me. “It was so scary and sad. We had to lock down our neighborhood as the shooter was on the loose. Two boys from down the street were in school and I was so frightened for them.”
“I had already felt so angry and sad over the Afghanistan withdrawal and speaking to our son about his friend who lost his life there broke my heart,” her text continued. “My 74 year old sister in law lives alone in New Orleans and has been struggling with the aftermath of the hurricane. Our first grandson was due any day and I was grieving for the world he was coming into. I had been praying ceaselessly and with focus but I couldn’t snap out of how sad I was.”
“After we got the OK that the shooter was caught I just felt I needed to go with my dogs and sit on my front porch,” she explained. “And I opened the door and BAM! (She shared with me the amazing rainbow photo above.) There was God with His big hug for me. In that moment, I knew that God was in control, I trusted that the world our grandson was coming into was picked for him by God and God’s faithfulness to me can withstand my doubt, my grief, and my fear!”
“When our grandson was born the next day I had nothing but joy and thankfulness to share and to celebrate,” she marveled. “It has been an exhausting week for me as God pulled me out of the valley to meet Him on the mountain top.”
“Someone sent me your Sue To You blog post about rainbows after I shared my rainbow story with my Northside Bible study friends and I told them about our grandson’s difficult birth,” she added. “I just wanted you to know that I loved your words and that I too had a rainbow story.”
“I have always loved rainbows,” she added. “Here is the one God sent my daughter and I as we walked through our Atlanta house in tears one last time. It just framed our pool and was there so quickly on a completely sunny day. With this unmistakeable symbol of His presence, God told us He would be with us wherever we go. I was so grateful for my Bible study by zoom all last year as those friends were my fellowship prayer warriors. This week one of these wise friends said that rainbows are my burning bush. (Learn about Moses and the burning bush in Exodus 3.) If God did anything bigger to get my attention it might scare me!”
“Right now I am really leaning into the reminder that God picked this time for our grandson to be born,” she concluded. “His world may be so different than mine or the world our children grew up in, but I can’t be scared for him because God needs him now. God’s plans for him are perfect.”
For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Eternal, “plans for peace, not evil, to give you a future and hope—never forget that. At that time, you will call out for Me, and I will hear. You will pray, and I will listen. You will look for Me intently, and you will find Me (Jeremiah 29:11-13, VOICE).
…Sue…
