By Hannah Sweet
Life is hard. It doesn’t come with instructions or how-to videos. Yet, there are expectations, ups & downs, and sometimes the pressures that fill our day-to-day lives can consume us. They wash over us like a cold and unrelenting rain, leaving us covered in bone-soaking despair. This feeling of complete and utter despair can fill us and beat us down until we have nothing left, making us want to give into the despair and sorrow. What are we to do when the constant barrage of life is almost too much to bear and the light that fills our souls is being smothered, whether by our own choices or by the invisible hand of fate?
2018 has not been my year. My husband and I lost our first child through random genetic chance. Shortly thereafter our car broke down, and then the car I was borrowing from my father broke down, on the turnpike, during rush hour. All of this has happened in the span of weeks. So, I did lose my baby, and yes, my car is costing me money I don’t have, but instead of letting these negative circumstances weigh me down, sending me to a place inside myself I don’t want to be, I am reminded of a song my parents would sing to me as a child, Look to the Rainbow, from the Broadway musical Finnian’s Rainbow.
The lyrics of this song have always reminded me of God’s promise. The lyrics to the song encourage the listener to sing this when the world falls apart and to always look to the rainbow.
Tis a rhyme for your lips and a song for your heart, To sing whenever the world falls apart.
Look, look, look to the rainbow. Follow it over the hill and stream. Look, look, look to the rainbow. Follow the fellow who follows a dream.
Take a moment and look at a picture of a rainbow. Really look at it. Think on the words of Genesis 9:16 as you do.
16 When I see the rainbow in the sky, I will always remember the promise that I have made to every living creature
God’s covenant with us is one of love, peace and a promise to always be with us, that being said, he is with us even when our lives become too much to bear. He is with us even when it seems like he isn't keeping his promise. We’ve all felt like he isn’t keeping his promises sometimes. Ok, at least I know I have. When I lost my baby, I felt betrayed by God. I have always felt that being a mother was a part of God’s plan for my life and also something I have felt a calling to become, so that loss felt like God was playing a cruel joke. Once the dust settled I realized that not all promises are fulfilled the way we think they are going to be. For me that calling is still there deep within my heart, a sign that the fulfillment of God’s promises are just coming to fruition. Remember that the plans God has for your life are bigger than the ones you have for yourself, and just because it doesn’t seem like the promises are being fulfilled, doesn’t mean they won’t be in ways you haven’t even thought of yet. Let me leave you with the verse I turn too when it seems like the world’s negativity will consume me if I so much as breathe again.
11 I know the plans I have in mind for you, declares the Lord; they are plans for peace, not disaster, to give you a future filled with hope. – Jeremiah 29:11
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