God's Promises

 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:  I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.   Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.  Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”  So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”  Genesis 9:12-17 (NIV)

Funny thing, last week and weekend nearly wiped me out.  I know it was a busy time for many with a lot going on, but between Grandma passing away, my obsession with knitting, a couple late nights and Jay going back on shift work (nights), I had a lot of trouble sleeping.  I was exhausted by Sunday morning and had no intention of going to church.

Saturday night Madolyn said her friend needed a ride to church, could we take her.  Absolutely.  But my plan was to take the kids to church and come home.  I would just be lazy all morning.  There were a couple events we needed to attend Sunday afternoon, so my only hope of a little downtime was Sunday morning.

I'm the type of person who never sleeps late, I'm usually up with the sun, but Sunday morning I was cozy and warm in my bed when my cell phone started buzzing.  I normally don't take my phone to bed with me except when Jay works nights...so there it was on vibrate.  I ignored it and then decided I better check out who was calling at 8:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning.  It was a church member needing me to teach her class because she was taking her husband to the AmbuCare (like an ER) and the other teacher (her mother) was at the hospital with her very sick husband (her father).  How could I say no to teaching her class for her because I was tired?

So Plan B was to teach the class and come home after Sunday School.  I informed the kids of this plan and off we went to get Mad's friend for church.  Mad's friend's half-sister also wanted to come so she piled in and we headed to church.

The teacher that called me told me what bible story the class was supposed to learn about, but I wouldn't have a book.  I was in luck, it was a child favorite, Noah's Ark.  I could handle this one.  I simply opened my bible to Genesis 6 and read the story, pausing to make comments, etc.  The class is a good one (my son and niece are in it...ha) and they offered insight and we had a good lesson.  I had this pit in my stomach and knew that I needed to stay for church.

I stayed for church, got home and put together something for lunch and we ALL set down at the table to eat.  It was the first time in about a month that we had sat down at the table and ate together.  We usually try to do this a few times a week, but right now our schedule and my stomach don't allow it.  (Call me selfish, I know.)

All I wanted to do was take a nap, but that didn't happen until much later in the evening.  The day worked out.  (We did skip one commitment though.)  And the very next day on my evening walk, I saw the most beautiful rainbow in the sky and it brought tears to my eyes because just the day before I was telling the kids in the Sunday School class about the significance of a rainbow and it reminding us of God's promises.

I had convinced myself that I didn't need to go to church on Sunday morning because I was too tired. Seeing that rainbow reminded me that even when I am at my weakest, God's promises never fail.  He will provide what we need to carry on, even when we are weak.

I'm certainly not glad my fellow church member was having a really rough morning with all the things going on with her family, but I am thankful that God gave her the nudge to call me and get my lazy self out of bed.  I survived Sunday and even got to see a rainbow on Monday.  And honestly, I probably wouldn't have felt such peace upon seeing that rainbow if I hadn't taught that Sunday School class.

Today I am thankful for God's promises.