Just Above the Clouds

Delayed again. I sat in frustration at a distant city’s airport, wondering at what point I would need to just unpack and set up a tent! Four hours had passed since my connecting flight should have taken off for my final destination. As the storm moved northward, flights were getting delayed and cancelled left and right. In fact, the plane I was to board was stuck in another city, sitting on a runway, awaiting takeoff.

I thought of that plane sitting under steely gray skies and pelting rain, filled with passengers equally as frustrated as I was who had my same wish: to get where we were going. If that plane could just take off, rise through the turbulent skies, and get above those clouds, it would be smooth sailing from there.

Another hour or more later, finally taking off in that longed-for plane and headed to my final destination, my view from the window was muted by the mass of clouds and the streaks of rain running down the glass. As we ascended through the clouds, the plane pitched and swayed upward, creaking loudly. At last, after what felt like an impossible struggle, we broke through the clouds into brilliant blue skies lit by a golden sun. Below us, the clouds looked like soft, rolling billows of gray-streaked cotton stretched across the horizon.

Settling back into my seat to try to nap, I closed my eyes and thought about the storm below us: the rain, wind, and overall gloominess of that day. Yet, here above the clouds, it was like another world. Below was a tumult of weather (and stressed-out passengers). Above the storm was a different story.

When we are in the midst of the storm, it is easy to forget that God will lift us out of it when He is ready. The winds of uncertainty and rains of troubles, along with the gray skies of sorrow, can easily cloud out our hope if we let them. Sometimes, it is not the right time for takeoff, even though we long to escape and get on our way. Sadly, some will wish they never attempted to embark on the journey at all.

If we ever hope to reach those blue skies again, we must trust God in the storm. He knows the flight plan, the right time to take off, and how to chart that perfect course for us to get above the clouds. Just as I had to wait…and wait…and wait, and just as I had to trust that the airline would make the right judgment call to get me to my final destination, we must trust in the Lord through the storms of life. As a result of my patience and trust, I was rewarded with smooth sailing to my final destination. Equally so, our reward can come only if we are willing to wait on God through the tough times. He knows what He is doing, and although we wish we could see the end and know what is ahead, sometimes all we can do is sit under the gloomy skies and have hope in Him for deliverance.

No storm lasts forever. Sometimes, they will delay our arrival or divert us to another place, but we will get where we are meant to go if we stay, hope, and trust in the Captain to get us there. The reward for our determination is the peace that passes all understanding and the joy of knowing it was God Who pulled us through the turbulence to see the blue skies of life once again.

Do not cancel your trip. Just wait on your flight. Trust the Captain. Have hope in Him to get you where you need to go. In the end, when you rise above the clouds and look out on that brilliant blue horizon, you will know it was worth the wait.

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. – Isaiah 40:31

by Tracie S. Burns

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