Part 2

Split Skies

The rain came like a force driving in southeast Wyoming. I finished my share of the mint chocolate chip ice cream cup and curled my arm backward to meet Dutchy’s big black nose as she lapped up the rest of our sweet treat. The wind slowed us down more than the rain did as it tried shoving me over the crest of each hill. And then the sun. Still looking through a rain pelted windshield, the sky split was up ahead, and we approached the promised sun.

The days have been long, weeks are short. When I get home, I usually head straight to the barn, rope the dummy, clean pens, and wait for the horses to come in from the pasture. I crave the quiet at night, as long as a miller moth doesn’t come in the door to disrupt it. Every day I come home, the clock reminds me how few hours of sleep I’ll get, which is ok. Because I love the life God has given me to live.

 The past couple weeks have had more situations in storm skies, rather than sunshine. I won’t divulge all the details, because this isn’t really what it’s about. Two big decisions were made, neither of which were the right calls. I had no control over the way things were decided, but it was black and white wrong. It’s hard to see decisions made that are hurtful to me, but even more to see my others hurt because of how their friends or family have chosen to treat them.

No, we can’t control others, nor do we want to. God gave us all free will. He doesn’t force any one of us to choose Him. But how fortunate are we that we get to. If I would have known how whole I could feel at the feet of Jesus, I wouldn’t have chased the things of this world I chased for so long. Amongst the conversations that transpired after these decisions were made, I said, “I lived in a gray area for a long time in my life. And I’m telling you, you can’t see through it, until you decide to come back to the light. I still love you, that doesn’t change, but I want you to know there’s a better way.”

It’s been hard to watch the decisions people make play out. At first, I was angry, offended, and vengeful. But as I took it to the Lord, something shifted. It’s weird, I’ve felt like I’ve been in a summer season. Like everything is going my way. Then two conversations and two decisions changed the dynamic of what I thought this season was. It certainly switched my prayer focus. The greed of this world will only leave you hungry for more of what will never satisfy. But I can’t teach the lesson. I can only plant the seed. God will send the rains.

I was reminded, in my frustration, the story of Moses when he prepares to ask Pharaoh to let God’s people go:

The Lord said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders (miracles) which I have put in your hand, but I will harden his heart and make him stubborn so that he will not let the people go.” Exodus 4:21

Well this isn’t exactly encouraging is it? Here Moses is at the burning bush, on the holiest of holy grounds. God just got done edifying him and promising Moses that He would be with him. But Pharaoh’s heart is going to be made stubborn by God and he won’t let the people go. God is literally telling Moses, “This is going to be tough.” But He also just got done telling Moses, “I’m going to do miracles and wonders, and my hand is going to be on Egypt, and eventually, Pharaoh will let the people go.” (CMV paraphrase)

What kind of an assignment is this? The more I read and digest it, the more it sounds like the call on our lives when we decide to follow Jesus. We don’t have control over others. And as much as it sucks watching people we love set up camp in the storm, sometimes that’s what it takes for God’s hand to prevail. God isn’t evil. There is no part of Him that isn’t good. None. He is ALL good. So, why is a storm cloud something to rejoice about?

It sets God up for a miracle season. Listen, when the storm rages on, when the wind howls, when the mountain sets up on a high place, this is where you get on your knees and go to war in prayer. One of my favorite songs right has a lyric that boasts, “Who are you great mountain, that you should not bow low. Jesus defeated the darkness. He has never lost a battle.” That’s right. Who are you great mountain? Who are you great pharaoh? Who are you greed? Who are you darkness? Whatever it is, it must bow low.

You’ve got to know that the storms, whether they’re ones we choose, someone else chooses, or an attack out of our control, what is in your control is your faith through it. It will try and break you. That’s when you have to break through. No storm is greater than God. And no storm has the authority to take you down. Kenneth Hagin said, “Faith does not deny facts. It just refuses to accept them as final.”

I refuse to see the storms as final. God is in control of the rain. You never know what seed He may be watering through the storm. Just as He used the storms sent to the Egyptians to lead Moses and the Israelites to the promised land, He will lead you through. But you have to pray. I have to pray. We all have to pray it through.

Elijah prayed fervently for three years it would not rain. And then, when it was time, God answered by fire on the top of the mountain to show He was God, and He would not be mocked. I believe the storm clouds show who God is, and in the storm, we release what He has placed inside of us to his hands. After this great miracle, Elijah ran and hid, afraid and overcome by fear. God showed up yet again, in a still small voice; not in the wind or the earthquake.

Trust the still small voice this week. Trust God who is in control. We can’t control what others do, the storms they choose, or the way they treat us. There’s a reliance on God that comes in the storm because I know I can’t do it myself, and I can’t do it alone. Whatever mountain you face this week, know that it isn’t the final say over your life. God has the final say, and He is always faithful. The sun is waiting just on the other side of your split sky.

Thanks for coming back or joining for the first time. I’ll continue on the theme of split skies, writing about the other side:  the sunshine.