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After The Rain

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I slept all night, woke to the alarm on my cell phone, and jumped out of bed. I love sleeping all night, which I rarely do. All my aging friends say the same thing—it’s not typical—sleeping straight through the night is not typical. I looked out the double windows over my kitchen sink, past the lanai to the lake beyond, which, thanks to the summer rains, is now full to the brim. 

“I love a rainy day”— Sounds like a song! 

More rain blew through the palm trees and across the lake causing the water to ripple. I turned the coffee pot on and perched upon the stool at my kitchen bar to read some chapters, the last few Psalms before Chapter 119. I would save 119 until tomorrow, such a long, long chapter. By the time I showered and dressed, the rain had stopped and part of the southern sky was clearing. A low mist hung mysteriously over the lake, just a little something extra God uses to add to the beauty After the Rain.

I drove to the coffee shop, as usual, and when I turned the corner out of Longleaf onto Highway 54 due west, I saw it—the two ends of a rainbow with clouds covering the center. The entire rainbow was out there somewhere beyond the clouds for someone else to enjoy.

I was thanking the Lord for the beauty of the earth and started to sing out loud, “God put a rainbow in the sky … when it looked like the sun wouldn’t shine anymore … God put a rainbow in the sky.”

Being perfectly honest, did you ever have an experience like that?—when you thought the sun wouldn’t shine anymore? Some days are undeniably dark and dreary. There’s always something to stew over if we’re looking for it. But then ...  the clouds lift and the rainbow fans beautiful hues across a partly sunny sky. God's promise with the first rainbow ever always comes shining through the clouds, letting us know in no uncertain terms, He is still alive and well on Planet Earth, which He made with His own hands. Make no mistake, He neither sleeps nor slumbers and He knows exactly what's going on out there in a world that has blatantly and specifically denounced Him as Creator God.

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills,
from whence cometh my help. 
My help cometh from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: 
he that keepth thee will not slumber.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is thy keeper:
The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.
The sun shall not smite thee by day,
nor the moon by night.
The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil:
he shall preserve thy soul.
The Lord shall preserve thy going out
and thy coming in
from this time forth, and even for evermore.

Psalm 121








Jane Bennett Gaddy, Ph.D.
Trinity, FLA


Jane's Books


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