May 15, 2010

Clouds

There is an worship song that rejoices, "As the mountains are around Jerusalem,
The Lord is all around His people..."
I love that song.

We live in the mountains now.
Our home is at 4,000 ft.
When I look out my back windows I see mountains all around me. It is amazing.
I often stand and stare in dumbfounded amazement at the clouds blowing in between me and those mountains. The speed with which those giants can become hidden. impressive.






The funny thing is that no matter how thick the clouds becomes, nothing will move those mountains.
They are there today and will be there tomorrow...

The Lord is the same way. He stands near me and by me at all times.
When the skies are clear, I never doubt His presence.

I have had those moments where I am looking the Lord straight in the eyes and I feel
His strength and assurance that He is with me always...
             And then I see the cloud blowing in... 
                                            Life throws a curve ball that for the moment makes it impossible to see Him. "He is still there" I tell myself over and over. I remember... He said He would never leave me ...

I am surprised and even frustrated that I would ever doubt? I look at the cloud again. I strain to see Him.

The wind comes and blows away the cover and reveals the obvious truth. He never left. He wasn't even budged. He's right where He said He'd would be- Surrounding me.

I know I have struggled in long seasons of life where I can only see the clouds.
At the time it felt as though it was a dream where I could see Him so clearly...

I want to encourage you and I together today... He is still there...
No matter how thick the clouds... He is there.
When the sky clears, He'll be there still.

When I was first married, I had a 1 hour commute to the toy store where I worked.
We lived in Washington. It was a beautiful drive.

I had an experience with mountains and clouds back then that has remained with me,
forever etched into my heart.
God showed me one morning that even though I didn't know He was there, He was still in fact there...

I had driven this way for 3 weeks steady. I commuted between our town of Bremerton to my job in Tacoma. Both of these towns are at sea level. I say this because you can imagine my surprise when I drove to work on the first clear day. (Remember I said we lived in Washington? It has been overcast and rainy the first 3 weeks of my new job.
So here it was. A glorious day, the sky was crystal clear... and there it was.
There before me in full glory was Mt. Rainier! How could I have not known it was there?
Mt.Rainier is over 14, 000ft. tall.
Majestic would be the starting point of trying to describe it. But words fail me to paint it for you here.
 I had to lean completely over my steering wheel to see the peak!
I drove to work and remained speechless...
Clouds are amazing.
They are simply made of tiny water droplets and vapor and yet they were able to crowd out my knowledge of this beast of a mountain.

Life struggles are the same. It's amazing how little it takes to obscure my focus or blind me completely from the living God. If I look at the struggles for too long, I might even begin to doubt that He is there...

He is there... Oh, He is there!

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