Rainbows
My husband Lance and I lived about half of last year in the Spokane Washington area. He was working in that area, and we decided to make it our sort of second home. We kept our home in the Houston area, and commuted back and forth from Washington. It was an extremely long commute. There isn’t a direct flight into Spokane so it took almost a day to get there. It was worth it to us because we have missed living in Colorado so much and this gave us a taste of that. We love the mountains and cold weather, and yes even the snow. Spokane is beautiful and unlike Colorado stays green almost all year. It also borders Idaho which has its own incredible beauty.
We spent all of October 2021 in our place out in the country in Washington. Our weekends were filled with hikes to see waterfalls, lakes and every thing of beauty we could take in. One particular weekend we ended up hiking around a lake called Distillery Bay in Idaho. The trail was 30 feet from the lake inside the wooded area. As we were hiking out for the day, Lance dropped all of his gear and yelled, I’ll be right back”. I love to hike but it’s a bit unnerving when he just takes off and I’m not sure where he’s going. I yelled back at him “where are you going” and as I watched him run toward the lake I saw it. I saw what had captured his attention and I took off running too.
It was the most beautiful double rainbow soaring over the lake I had ever seen. We’ve seen countless rainbows in our travels, but this was spectacular. We stood on the bank of the lake and took it in, quietly soaking in the beauty of this moment. We stood there for the longest time, and we were simply silent in awe of God’s creation. At some point we started taking pictures of this incredible display of color. As gorgeous as the pictures are they are never as good as the real thing.
My husband has taught me so much in almost forty years of marriage, but one of my favorite things I’ve learned from him, is to stop and allow the beauty of creation to be admired for the gift it is. As we were starting to head back to the trail Lance commented on this little cabin on the other side of the lake. It looked as if one of the rainbows was landing right on that cabin. I made a comment about how cool it looked and Lance reminded me that it looked beautiful from where we were, but at the cabin they would only be seeing rain, not the rainbow.
I posted about this last year when it happened, but I want to expound a bit. It’s about perspective, but it’s also about choice. You may be in a storm right now. Things may be swirling around you making you feel out of control. Maybe all you can see is the rain, but look to the Lord for His perspective. When we feel alone or like the hard thing we’re going through will never end, it’s then we must remember there may be a rainbow, a breakthrough, or an answer just around the corner. He is faithful to see us through whatever life throws at us. Psalms 121:1-2 TPT, “I look up to the mountains and hills, longing for God’s help. But then I realize that our true help and protection is only from the Lord, our Creator who made the heavens and the earth.”
