blue in the sky when it's raining.

I was playing the guitar in my living room the other night when my boyfriend texted me, "the sunset."

I took one look out the window, caught a glimpse of pink and purple, and immediately grabbed my iPhone, my iPad, and my digital camera like a technologically confused idiot and ran up the stairs to the roof.

The sunset.

no filter iPhone pic... doesn't even do it justice.

It was truly breathtaking. So uniquely beautiful. Unlike any other sunset I have seen from this roofdeck. I find it so interesting that what made this particular sunset so breathtaking were the clouds...

The clouds. 

Something we usually associate with being dark and dreary, the sign of a storm, were actually what made the sunset so uniquely beautiful.

Nothing like a sunset to teach you a little lesson about life.

Whenever I see a sunset, I can't help but think about God - his beauty, his power, his love. And this time, those clouds... They made me think about the clouds in our lives, the storms in our lives.

I've seen plenty of sunsets from my roofdeck like this:

Thankfully we will have many days like this one. Good days. Days without clouds. And of course the sunsets will be beautiful.

But there will be days with clouds. Hopefully not many. But we will have them. It's inevitable. We live in a fallen world.

While these days might not be something we hope for, the clouds just might make the sunset even more beautiful than it could have been without them.

Think about it... If you know what it's like to be in need, then you appreciate having plenty even more. If you've experienced pain and heartbreak, you are able to appreciate being loved even more.

We may not understand why bad things happen. We may not be able to comprehend why the world is such a mess if God is in control. But if there are two things I'm certain of, it's that God is good and he is in control. If we can just remember that in the midst of the storms in our lives.

Joe Purdy sings a song called "Blue In The Sky" in which he gives a great metaphor for such a perspective to keep:

"I see blue in the sky when it's raining."

Sunsets, especially sunsets after storms, remind me of God's love for us and that he's always there, especially throughout the storms in our lives. He wants the best for us even when what we're going through may not feel like the best.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him..." - Romans 8:28

The truth is we never know what's waiting on the other side of a storm. We never know what we will learn, how we will grow, or the stronger person we will become as a result of what we endure and overcome.

We never know the beauty that will reveal itself to us through those very clouds.