Sunshine and Rain

“Bad things happen; how I respond to them defines my character and the quality of my life. I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of my loss, or I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I havel — life itself.”
— Walter Anderson

And to that, I say a hearty “Amen!”

I tucked that quote away in a Word document years ago, thinking, One day, I’ll write a blog about it. Well, one day has arrived.

I love to write about the sheer joy of loving and delighting in God, fully expecting readers to shout, Yes and amen! But then I realized — what about those who have delighted in God, yet their prayers seem to bounce off the ceiling? They’re struggling, wondering if God is even paying attention.

I get it.

When I talk about blessings, I could make it sound like I just woke up one morning to success, as if it had been dropped off by Amazon Prime overnight. But trust me, that was one long night!

For all of us — our journeys of faith are often filled with grueling hours, impossible challenges, and moments where tomorrow feels like a million years away. Yet through it all, if we keep our resilience, determination, and faith foremost — we will reach our goals.

Life is like that. Some days, we’re dancing on sunshine, and even the traffic lights seem to be in agreement with our joy. Other days? Storm clouds roll in, the downpour is relentless, and we’re convinced our umbrella has a hole in it.

Country singer Lynn Anderson sang it and I think God must be saying it:
“I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden. Along with the sunshine, there’s gotta be a little rain sometime.”

But what her song didn’t tell, but Paul the Apostle did. God never leaves us out in the rain alone. In Romans 5:3-5, he reminds us that suffering produces endurance, endurance builds character, and character leads to hope — and hope does not disappoint.

So yes, the rains do come……and go! And with God, the rains won’t drown us — they will grow us. One day, we’ll step out of the storm and into His sunshine, singing at the top of our lungs, “I’m walking on sunshine… and don’t it feel good!”