Death and Rainbows

I think the strangest part is the normalcy of it all. The way everything keeps moving forward as if nothing ever happened. The house looks the same. The people look the same. The familiar tv shows are playing in the background that normally do on a Tuesday night. Everything so….normal. I'm not really sure what I expected, but that feeling…the normal feeling…that's what took me off guard the most.

I'm always very interested to see how people deal with the most traumatic circumstances in life. Maybe so I can prepare myself for my own, or possibly to encounter people on a very deep level. I got a chance last night to spend some time with a family who lost their husband and father a few days ago. I listened to the wife speak of her love lost and how she whispered to him on his last day that he had loved her enough to make it through the rest of her life. What an amazing thing to be able to say to someone in their final days. I sure hope someone can say that I loved them like that when it's my time to go home. And it IS going home. I imagine when I'm in Jesus' arms I'll feel a feeling of belonging like I'd never known on this earth.

On our way over to the house we were driving in this really heavy storm that was actually quite scary. We couldn't see the cars in front of us and everything around us seemed really dark. Our blood pressure and stress level was up really high, but we figured we wouldn't die, because how terrible would that be if we died on our way to comfort someone who had just experienced death? The Lord promises not to give more than we can handle, and they couldn't handle us as well! Not this week! We figured we had plenty of angels keeping us safe considering the circumstances.

As scary as it was braving the storm, it was totally worth it. I feel like it was used to give me the words to say to that family at the right time. The storm went on for a while, but there was point where the clouds came to a complete stop. It was like we were entering a perfect summer day with a huge storm behind us. I said in a note to them that I had been going through a storm and I couldn't see the sun at all. But when we came out, the realization was that it was always there just as Jesus is for us and when we are in such a dark time, it's impossible to see the full picture.

Next I looked back at the storm and saw the most beautiful rainbow I've ever seen. It was stretching high into the sky in a strait line full of color and hope. I felt the Lord wanting me to remind them of His promises and how He will do what He says He will. No traumatic circumstance can take away that incredible truth. The rainbow was put in the sky to be a reminder of the covenant and promise the Lord made with Noah and all the creatures on the earth concerning the flood. I also see it as a reminder of all of God's promises for us. He promises that He will never leave us or forsake us. He promises to come get us soon and take victory over this world. He promises no more separation and eternal joy with Him. He promises that one day tears will be gone forever. He promises that nothing can separate us from His love and that we never have to face anything alone.

These sorrows we go through in life are not the end even if it feels like it. The truth is for believers if it isn't a happy ending…it isn't the end at all.