Sunlight and Rain

We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. —Romans 5:3–4 ESV

If we could sit on a sunny patio and chat leisurely, I’d want to ask you, “What’s the best part and worst part of this season of your life?”

What would you say? What’s making your life painfully difficult right now? And what’s making it beautiful and sweet?

We might shed a few tears together as you answer. Or maybe I’d laugh with joy as you describe a long-awaited hope fulfilled. Most likely, though, we’d do a little of both. As Elisabeth Elliot wrote, “Rainbows are made of sunlight and rain.”¹

Considering this truth, here’s something I’m reminding myself these days: This season of life is a gift. The precious and the painful are entwined by gracious hands that never stop doing us good. The very thing that brings us to our knees, makes us weep in despair or feels like our undoing, is an integral part of the gift of this season. In His time, we will see that our desperation was the beginning of our deliverance.

¹ Elisabeth Elliot, Passion and Purity: Learning to Bring Your Love Life Under Christ’s Control (Grand Rapids, MI: Revell, 2002), p. 52.

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“Every Season Is a Gift” (ReviveOurHearts.com/blog)

Scripture taken from The ESV