God's Faithfulness in a Sunset

As weird as this may sound for many of you (all Northern-Hemispherians to be precise =D), it is autumn here. Autumn, and raining/cloudy as well.  And I quite enjoy it actually :). I spent all of yesterday afternoon, relaxing alone in my bedroom  and writing on my laptop in The Crown of Life (talk about how good being alone to write is, when most times while writing I'm surrounded with constant family noise!). Whilst I wrote, I listened to relaxing music and heard the steady drumbeats of the rain on our roof. I don't know how it is with you, but rain in summer sometimes signals to me flooding or storm (thanks to January 2011 experience :p). And rain in winter makes everything quite cold, dreary, and wet (most times). But rain in autumn is pleasant to me. The freshness of the trees, grass and plants after rain, droplets trickling on the windows, and the smell of wet earth, cleansed after rain is one that I love. Sometimes we forget, though, what sunshine and clear skies are like. We forget the blue of the sky, and the warmth and glow of a beautiful sunset...

This is what the sky was like in our neighborhood one evening a few weeks back, a fiery glow of gold, orange, yellow and pink and shades of blue as the sun sank behind the hill. It was soooooo beautiful! We were going back home from swimming that day and as I looked through the car window I saw the sky! You can imagine my reaction. As soon as we reached our house, I rushed out of the car, ran to my bedroom and grabbed our camera and ran back outside to take dozens of shots... 

As I gazed up at the sky, I was amazed and awed by the beauty of our Heavenly Father...

His glory and love could be seen in the clouds, and I was reminded of His unfailing faithfulness to His children. That though we fail and stumble, He remains unchanging, faithful and good.

"O Lord, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth,
Who have set Your glory above the heavens!"

Psalm 8: 1

In seeing the beauty of the setting sun and the gold-rimmed clouds, I saw that in rain and cloud we'd forget those glimpses of the sunshine and beauty, the glory of God's creation which awes and inspires us. When the clouds hide the face of the sun, when the rain and shadows fall, we do not see the sun and it is hard to remember how it was, and often allow our fears and doubts to set in because we cannot see. Yet our feelings and the clouds masking the sun from our eyes, they don't make the sun or beauty vanish, it only veils it for a time. It is also the same with our life and walk with God. When we see and feel His Presence, it is like we see a glorious sunset, and we know. But there are times where we feel so distant from Him, when doubts arise and when the trials and temptations we face threaten to overwhelm us so that we can't look up. But that doesn't lessen to the slightest fraction, the truth of God's love, care and faithfulness to us, His own children. Because He is eternal, and His faithfulness endures. There is that beautiful quote by Amy Carmichael that I'd like to share about this and I hope will bless you.

Our feelings do not affect God's facts. They may blow up like clouds and cover the eternal things that we most truly believe. We may not see the shining of the promises, but they still shine; and the strength of the hills that are His also is not for one moment less because of our human weakness. Heaven is no dream. Feelings come and go like clouds, but the hills and the stars abide." ~Amy Carmichael From her devotional book, Edges of His Ways)

The beauty ^ of His creation, the swirling clouds and the sunset, they gave me such a comforting sense of God's amazing love and goodness, that I am upheld by His hand and He knows and cares. I want to praise Him and thank Him for everything, including the sunshine and rain, because He is faithful in both, and his mercies and compassions endure forever.

Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
"The LORD is my portion," says my soul,
Therefore I hope in Him!"


The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,
To the soul who seeks Him.
It is good that one should hope and wait quietly
For the salvation of the LORD."
Lamentations 3:22, 26