promise keeper 131/366

Rainbows make my heart smile,

my emotions soar

and my soul sing.

photo credit Jessica Bondurant

This rainbow was the "icing on the cake" to a day spent with Jonathan's family. As we were finishing dinner Jess saw the right, bottom portion of it and we hurried out onto the porch to see what we could see. A full, vivid, rainbow, one that made it easy to distinguish the bands of color. As we soaked the beauty in we noticed something else:

If you look closely, you can faintly see the edge of a double rainbow. We stood in awe and wonder. Listening to Addi and Benjamin's comments about the rainbows was a priceless  bonus. We watched until they faded. The rainbows, not the kids. While cleaning up from supper we talked, not about the promise of the rainbow, but about the importance of taking time to enjoy beauty and of sharing it so others can enjoy it too.

When it was time for the J Bondurant family to go home I sent Jonathan and Jess on ahead with Zeke, telling them I would bring Addi and Benjamin. Zeke needed to get home to bed and the big kids were finishing putting toys away. This plan would give me extra time with them and momma and daddy about 40 minutes to themselves. Well, almost. They did have Zeke. 

When the big kids and I got to their house Benjamin insisted I come in and see the new couch. Then, of course I had to try out the new couch. I knew I wouldn't stay long, but I wasn't about to refuse soaking up a few more minutes of time with family. I haven't seen any of my birthed kids or grandbabies in 8 weeks so today was a rainbow for my soul, long before we saw the rainbow in the sky.

God was showing off while I drove home. The sky was gorgeous:

I kept thinking about how you can't have a rainbow without rain. And snippets of the song Waymaker kept looping through my head: Waymaker...Promise Keeper, Light in the darkness, my God, that is who You are... Promise keeper, Light in the darkness...even when I can't see it You're working...

These days, it is sometimes hard to see anything other than the rain. Especially on the dark, cloudy, actual rainy days we seem to be experiencing in abundance. How beautiful it is to know that God is a promise keeper. When I was catching up on FB world I saw this picture that Jake Ratliff took and Lela Ratliff shared-it is the same rainbow Jess and the kids and I were looking at, but the Ratliffs were in a different place-and they saw a little more than we did. 

photo credit Jake Ratliff

I don't know where you are in the midst of this Pandemic.

Maybe you the rain is pouring and you can't see anything but clouds. Maybe you can see a small portion of a rainbow. maybe there is a full, in vivid living color bow over your life. Or a double. Regardless, I want to encourage you to rely on the Promise Keeper. He never fails. He is always working, even in the darkness. He never stops working. Even when we don't see it from where we are standing.*

*I sent this post to Sarah for her to proof read before I posted it. She said they saw the rainbow too, it was faint but Noell took a couple of pictures. If you look close, over top of the tree you can see the rainbow. It gives me chills to know that people in three different locations in Ky-Grayson, Tollesboro(ish), and Russell Springs, all saw the same rainbow. Different vantage points brought varied views. 

 photo credit Noell Funk

But, the rainbow is NOT what immediately caught my eye in Noell's photo. Do you see it in the cloud on the right?  A heart. Of light. Streaming through the cloud. A visual reminder that in the midst of it all, we can trust God's heart. His love never fails.