I was busy trying to place student teachers for the spring semester the other day, something that has posed quite a challenge this year with the pandemic in our world. When contacting a student to ask about a different type of placement than what she was thinking, she responded with, “I’m up for the challenge, I mean, if God brought me to it, He’ll bring me through it.” NOT the response I was expecting. Not the response I would have initially given. Not the response many of us, if we are honest, probably give when we are faced with a challenge. Life is so full of challenges this year, and I have to admit, although I try to smile and be joyful, doing so is extremely difficult right now. I’m so thankful for the student that reminded me that nothing is to big for God. I often think that so many things are “too big” to handle and I wonder how I am going to make it through. I know people sometimes say, “God doesn’t give you more than you can handle”…..LIE. He sure does! But as the smart student says, He will get me through anything that he puts in my path. Now that gives me peace, and maybe helps me to smile again knowing that the obstacles in front of me are NOT too big for God.
God’s “Rainbow Promise”
God promised Noah that he would never again flood the earth. What a comfort to know that in the midst of my storms, I can see the rainbow through the stormy waves. Again comes rushing the thought that nothing is impossible, and that I can get through any storm because of the promise that after the storm there is a rainbow waiting for me – I CAN get through it! So can you! Hold tight and ride out the storm. “If God brought me to it, He will bring me through it.” And even better, there’s a rainbow there to remind me. When I was a kid, my sister did a science project on prisms and how rainbows actually happen. I don’t remember much about the project, but for some reason, it brought about a fascination of rainbows and how they form. Rainbows (prisms) come from light being filtered through condensation (water!). I am not a science expert and would love to research exactly what that means, but for years I remember searching for rainbows and finding them in the most unusual places – like a puddle after a rainstorm or in my backyard next to the slip-n-slide. One thing that all of the rainbows had in common was that they were formed by water – usually some sort of water that was formed by a “storm” or a burst of condensation – and sunshine. What a cool God we have to have created rainbows! I smile when I see rainbows and know that I will make it through the obstacle and storms in my life.
Build a Bridge
Sometimes obstacles in my life seem so big that I just don’t have any idea how I am going to get through the crazy path of life where the obstacles are. If I sit back and look around I can see that God places tools in my life to “build a bridge” over the water or over the path. Not far from where I live there is a major roadway and there was a railroad crossing with old, rugged tracks where daily trains stopped traffic for hours during the evening rush hour or during the morning commute. A few years ago, the railroad company invested a large sum of money to build a massive bridge over the tracks so that they wouldn’t have to stop traffic every day. The construction took awhile and the inconveniences were rough during the building of the bridge, but it all paid off and now the problem has been solved. Sometimes, as in the picture above, it is hard to see, but the bridge is right there in the setting where your obstacle is. You just need to take a step back and look around and see what it is that God has provided to build a bridge. It may take some time, but “If God brings me to it, He will bring me through it.”
Light on the Other Side
If all else fails, and I can’t seem to find the promises and hope, I just lift my head. There’s a thing called “Faith” and I often hear God whisper to my heart, “Trust me”. Oh do I struggle with that. Over and over I need to be taught this lesson. I want to know the plan, and I want to know it now! But sometimes I need to just know that the time to “know the plan” is not now. If I lift my head just a little and sit back, I will see that there is light on the other side, and that is all that I need to know right now. That is the hope and the peace that brings the smile – the genuine, I-can-do-this smile, the broken-but-beautiful smile, the confident smile, the true-joy-in-the-moment smile. I sit on the rock and look up at the light on the other side and think to myself, “If God brought me to it, He will bring me through it”, and I smile.