Look for the Rays
(Romans 15:13 TPT)
In South Louisiana, we have had months and months of cloudy, dreary days. The news even reported that during an entire recent month, we have only had one day of sunshine… until this week.
Just today, our local meteorologist posted on his social media:
“Spring Sunshine Warning!
When: this week
What: a bright object in the sky that will become more brilliant each day
What to expect: feelings of joy, warmth, elation and serenity. ”
Seriously, this is how desperate we have been to see the sun! Days, weeks and months of no sunshine affects us physically and emotionally. But it is amazing how just one day (or a few days) of beautiful sunshine lifts our moods and fills our hearts with joy!
The same can be said of us spiritually. Perhaps your spiritual life feels like those endless, cloudy days. You yearn to see the sun shine spiritually in your life but all you can see and feel are the clouds. I know what that feels like. I have had those long seasons of “sunless” days, and the more I looked for the sun to shine in my spirit, the more the dark clouds seemed to develop over me like a looming storm rolling over the horizon.
One thing I have learned over those cloudy seasons is this: I needed to change what I was looking for. Instead of searching desperately for the sun to shine brightly, I began to search for, not the sun, but its rays.
In the natural, before the sun rises, you can see the rays of the sun. Though you cannot see the sun just yet, you know it is coming because of its rays. Once you see the rays, you don’t question whether or not the sun will rise… the sun’s rays are a forerunner of what is to come.
So it is in our spiritual lives. So it is with HOPE.
Hope of a better season that is coming.
Cloudy, dreary days in the spiritual can be very hopeless with no sight of the sun. But as the sun rises on a new season, hope’s rays come flooding in just like the sun’s rays.
Before you see or feel the HOPE of a new season, you can look and search for the rays of hope. Those rays are a promise of the hope that is soon to shine on your life and in your heart.
What do those rays look like? Maybe it’s a friend’s phone call or text message encouraging you to stay strong. Perhaps it’s a smile from a stranger or a hug from a child.
Rays of hope can shine as you read the Bible and a particular verse speaks straight to your heart, or a prayer prayed over you from a trusted friend or leader.
Hope’s rays can shine in all sorts of ways, but we can miss them if we are only looking for a sign of hope itself. Rays of hope can be seen before you feel the hope rising in your heart.
Why don’t you make a decision today to look for those rays of hope in your life? Start preparing for your new season by fixing your eyes on all the good that’s in your life and giving God thanks… because good is there! Open your heart to the God of all Hope and allow Him to speak to you the encouragement that He desires for you.
The sun will shine again in your life… and so will His HOPE!
My prayer for those of you desperately seeking the days of sunshine and hope in your spirit is this:
“Now may God, the inspiration and fountain of HOPE, fill you to overflowing with uncontainable joy and perfect peace as you trust in Him. And may the power of the Holy Spirit continually surround your life with His abundance until you radiate with HOPE!” (Romans 15:13 TPT)
Start looking for the rays, and I promise you HOPE is not far behind!
