A new thought for these cloudy days

It's been raining this week.

Of course, I live in the Pacific Northwest, so rain isn't a surprising new turn of events for us this time of year. We get less rainfall actually than many places in the United States, but we get little spitters and spatters more frequently. Some days, I have to admit, the clouds can become quite oppressing and I have feared more than once that if we stood still too long we might begin to mold and mildew ourselves. It's my least favorite thing about living here.

One of my favorite things about living here is being near the Cascade Mountains. On a clear day, they rise majestically in the distance; snow covers them year round and I can't drive down the highway without hearing praise songs in my head referring to mountains bowing down and trembling.

So when the the mountains hide behind their cloudy curtain come rainy season, I get a little sad. Yesterday, though, it actually brought me joy for the first time. As I walked the dog in the early morning hours I looked for my mountain and it was gone. But it's still there; still as majestic as it has ever stood--even more beautiful than usual, I imagine, due to some new pristine snowfall. It's just not visible right now.

It reminded me of God. He who is stronger than my mountain; more majestic than any peak on earth; and more constant than anything that has ever graced this planet. Sometimes my circumstances cloud my view of Him. I look and cannot imagine how He could be working through difficult times. I search and cannot seem to find how His hand could be in all the scary, negative things in life. But He is working; He is there. Soon, the clouds will raise and just as I will see my mountain again, I will see God and the mighty ways He has been working. In the big and small; in the joyful and the sorrowful; in the day and during the nights He is there.

God is bigger than my mountain and He is bigger than my fears and worries. Even when I cannot see the evidence of Him through the fog surrounding my life, I know He is there. And He loves me. And my mountain will tremble at the sound of His glorious name.

You are resplendent with light, more majestic than mountains rich with game. Psalm 76:4