My Foggy Morning, God's Glorious Dawn

Dear Prayer Team,

I awoke a couple of weeks ago to a day that was dark and dreary. I was sick and tired, and I didn't really feel like getting up. But I pressed on and got ready for work and my mood began to change a bit, and I could see that it wasn't going to be that bad of a day. I went out into the fog, got into my car and drove into the gray morning.

On my way to work I began to pray, as I often do, and found myself bringing my various requests to the Lord. There were many weighty subjects to bring before Him. In recent days I was fending off little negative thoughts in certain situations that we are going through, deciding to remember, instead, the incredible faithfulness that the Lord had demonstrated to us in the past.

As my car climbed the back roads into the hills to bypass the suburban traffic I realized that the fog was starting to thin and I began to see glimpses of the morning sun. By the time I got to the top of the hill the morning was in full bloom! The sun shone with some of the most beautiful golden light I had ever experienced and as I looked far, down the other side of the ridge, into the next valley I could see the fog as it clung in soft white billows to the still shadowed, wooded lowlands. I looked at the houses around me as I drove and saw the familiar sight of a wealthy gated community with its perfectly trimmed lawns and brilliantly colored flowers as they lined ornate brick walls. All of the dazzling colors of this world seemed to vie for my attention as I drank the warmth of this glorious morning into my soul. I wished I had my camera! I wanted to call my wife and tell her that she shouldn't get too worried about it being a dreary day because the fog would no doubt clear to reveal a beautiful, crisp fall day. I decided against calling her since she was, no doubt, getting the children ready for school, and busily preparing for another day of job hunting. She may have appreciated it, but it just wasn't the right time.

As I descended into the next valley and prayed a prayer of thanksgiving to God for his glorious creation, I felt the glow of what I had just witnessed keeping me company even as the fog began to envelop my car. I wondered why God had specifically pressed the beauty of his design into THIS page of my life. What was He showing me?

It was later that morning, as I reached out with my heart to encourage a friend who is going through some difficult situations, that I realized what God was showing me. I told this Christian friend that God was showing me that instead of getting too caught up in the individual problems and struggles of the situations that face us, it would be better to peacefully deal with the issues at hand without striving, and allow God the opportunity to show us His greater plan. Through faith we should hold onto His higher perspective. That's when it hit me. I told about what I had witnessed on that hill and that my faith that the fog would part was based on my very real experience of a vibrant dawn. That dawn was happening, in fact, at the very same time as the dreary one that I had awoken to. The only difference was perspective. I was glad I could share that with my friend, but really, the Lord had me preaching to myself!

God has shown himself to be faithful in his Word. It has also been very powerfully demonstrated to me many times in my own life. Gone are the days when I would wonder if God knew that I was still here, or if I was somehow unable to hear His guidance and direction. God has seen me through the fog many times and shown his perfect plan. It's now a given! But even with the comforting experiences that I hold dear, I periodically need a jolt from God to realize that my eyes have drifted and I am instead staring wide-eyed into self-doubt, discouragement, and unbelief.

Our perspective can be so limited by our five senses. Without God the best wisdom we can offer is a guess, based on our feeble logic and reasoning. But God sees the end from the beginning. He comforts us in our day-to-day lives, while keeping us on our course to completion. We cry about the rain and the fog of disappointment and he's there beside us with insight and understanding to lift our head. We leap like deer through the golden sunshine of personal victories and fulfilled promises and he leaps with us while he smiles knowingly.

"Child," he whispers, "save a little of that for the rain."