Raindrops pattered softly on my windshield. In front of me were dark clouds and more rain. Yet the blinding sun was reflecting in my rearview mirror. In the wide open river valley, I could see the sky transform from sunshine to foreboding darkness. Being the science nerd I am, I knew there must be a rainbow somewhere. I craned my neck all around (as safely as I could while driving) and saw nothing. Finally, when I had given up, it appeared in front of me.  

The further into the darkness I drove, the stronger the colors began to gleam. I was able to see where it started in the middle of the field to my left. And as the highway turned to the right I was driving parallel to the other end. It was then that I noticed another fainter rainbow just above it. It was breathtaking – something only the human eye could fully capture. 

It stood out to me at that moment that if I had been driving toward the sun, I would not have been able to see the rainbow. I would have missed it completely. To find it, I had to face the dark clouds. 

Noah understood more than anyone what it was like to face the storm and see a rainbow. Genesis describes Noah as righteous, blameless, and the only one who walked with God in his time. Pretty high praise coming from the Bible. Because of this, God asked Noah to build a boat. He was sending a flood.  

What we learn in studying Noah is that a boat of this magnitude would have taken a handful of men with crude tools years to make. Not to mention that it likely had not ever rained on earth at this point. So, in obedience to God, Noah started a gigantic project to prepare for an event no one could fathom in a world where all his peers would have thought him foolish (as if they didn’t already). That means for years Noah likely endured the criticisms of his neighbors, family, and friends. Sounds like he was facing a dark cloud. But he kept moving toward it. 

If you don’t know the rest of the story, go read it. At the end of it all, God makes a promise to Noah and places a rainbow in the sky as a physical sign of that promise. If you skip ahead to Genesis 9:15 (NLT), it reads, “And I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life.” If Noah had not spent all those years obediently facing the dark clouds that, at the time, felt like they were going to destroy his life, he would never have been able to experience the joy of that rainbow. He would not have been the one to receive God’s promise. In fact, for the sake of familiarity and comfort, he would have been dead. 

Let’s be honest for a minute. No one, I mean NO ONE, wants to face the dark clouds in life. Including me. Change represents a dark cloud for me, and that day, while driving, the fear, stress, and anxiety of an upcoming life change was looming large. I had shed more than a few tears (not soft patters like the rain on my windshield). I wanted to run back to what was familiar and comfortable. Because familiar and comfortable, feel safe and happy. In reality, being familiar and comfortable can be our biggest limitation. If we do not obediently face the dark clouds God places in our lives, we will never see the rainbow. We will never be able to receive his promise. Instead, we will receive the opposite of the promise – destruction.  

No matter what dark cloud you’re facing today, I encourage you to keep driving toward it. It could be change, fear, anxiety, obedience, a hard conversation, processing an experience, healing in a relationship, pain, stress, financial hardship, etc. Dark clouds take many shapes. But they all have a rainbow on the other side if you’re willing to face them. I encourage you to lean into the promises of God, those fulfilled and those unfulfilled, to persevere. If you will just keep going you will see just how much more beauty God plans to share with you.  

EDITOR’S NOTE: The author, Crystal Neff, hails from Hannibal, MO where she serves as Associate Youth Pastor at Tabernacle of Praise, MO. She is also a full-time counselor at a local mental health agency. She has a B.A. in Preaching and Evangelism from Central Bible College and an M.A. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Grace College. In her free time, she enjoys reading, sitting on her deck, crocheting, collecting side gigs, halfway learning new hobbies, and spending time with her husband and three kids. She is also a Journey member.

__________

NOTE: Journey Pastoral Coaching exists to provide pastoral coaching to young ministers.

Saddled with large student debt, just beginning to set up homes and start families, and serving in low paying first and second positions, Millennials are those who most desire but can least afford to pay for pastoral coaching.

We are able to do so thanks to the faithful and generous support of individuals and churches like yours who want to see young leaders not only enter the ministry, but remain in the ministry.

Now, more than ever, we need your help. 

If you or your church would like to help Millennial ministers across the US and overseas build strong for a lifetime in ministry, please click here to support Journey monthly or with your one-time gift. Thank you.

We also invite you to click and subscribe to our twice-monthly blogs at journeypastoralcoaching.com

“Of all vocations, surely the gospel ministry is the one whose paradigm is most radically formed by the dynamics of godly mentorship.” 

Stephen BaldwinStephen Baldwin