Clear skies …

Traveling down the freeway in the hopes of making it to our destination before the menacing sky unleashes its fury.

All I can see is thick black as charcoal clouds and the effects of the wind building up around me.

The car shudders as another gust hits us. Rain falls so heavy I can no longer see beyond the hood.

The onslaught rocks the confidence I have in my ability to navigate this mess safely.

I pull over. Hazard lights blinking to serve a warning to oncoming traffic.

The kids’ chatter falls silent and their discomfort becomes tangible.

I’m going to wait it out…

I’m good at this, waiting out the difficult …I can sit tight, hold on and wait for a storm to pass.

Rain comes in horizontally and beats down on the windshield .. its midday out there but you’d never know that given the blackness that surrounds us.

Lightening and thunder punctuate my discomfort and the trees sweep low almost kissing the earth as the wind whips them back and forth. Nature certainly has a way of reminding us how small and powerless we are and how little control we have.

A tree comes crashing down on the verge beside us and I think perhaps a clearer stretch of road would be a better haven for my little family. We need to be out from under the threat of falling branches and powerlines.

Eyes lifted to the heavens I look for a break in the clouds .. nothing. I pull back out and make my way slowly forward. Can’t stay here.

At snail’s pace with almost no vision, we edge forward in the hopes of somewhere more comfortable to stop.

All of a sudden, as quickly as the storm hit, the rain stops. The wind ceases. The sky cracks open.

Behind us it rages on but just up the road from where we had been waiting is a different story.

There between the clouds, the bluest sky!

Life it seems is a lot like this storm. In the thick of the trials, I can never see a way through. Never see the promise of better days.. but behind every dark moment, there is a sky bursting with promise just waiting to be revealed.

I have found there is most definitely a time to stop and be still. To hold tight and wait for a breakthrough…But I am learning there is also a time to push on, keep moving forward even when I can’t see .. that sometimes standing, waiting and delaying is detrimental and the only way is onwards.. after all, behind every storm cloud is a clear sky waiting to be revealed.

Thank heavens storms don’t last. Seasons change and hope held firm is never really lost.