Pop-up showers. That’s what they call the drenching downpours that come out of nowhere during the rainy season in Florida. You can be sitting at a stoplight and it can be raining on one side of the road and not on the other.
Recently, I had taken my husband to work and went to a park by the water. This has become a sort of mini retreat for me once a week. It’s a great place to think. As it turns out, it’s also a great place to hear from God.
This time I sat on a bench watching across the bay as one of those pop-up storms formed in front of me. I watched it gathering strength. The wind began to blow and the water began to stir. As I watched it move toward me, I could see that it was raining between me and the other shore that I faced. Just to the right of the rain it was clear and sunny. Just like life, I thought. Sometimes you can see a storm approaching and you know you are in it’s path but you look around and see other people completely unaffected. Not even getting sprinkled on—how is that even fair?
Then, as I was thinking I should probably head toward shelter, I looked at the clouds in front of me and right in the middle of the darkest cloud was a splash of color. A hint of a rainbow. As I continued to watch, I saw small patches of color elsewhere in the cloud. None of the patches seemed connected. They were just small spots in the middle of this cloud.
God spoke to my heart just then. Even though that storm was headed my way, even though the sun was shining on other people, God was still with me. God painted a piece of a rainbow just for me. It was a reminder that even when the storms come, there is the promise of something good right in the middle of all the struggles.
I quickly headed for shelter and the rain poured from the sky for a time. And then… you know what happened?
The sun came out again.
“The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.”– Nahum 1:7 (ESV)