Cloud

Some days do you ever just wake up and as the morning progresses a cloud of discontent seems to make its way into your space and it just sort of hovers over you? Yesterday was my day... I am not quite sure where it originated...or how it gained momentum...but it clearly is an unwanted, unseen, unexpected and unhelpful nuisance that was lurking.....and blurring the clear vision of joy and blessing that are before me. Maybe it was my husband being out of town or the let down after being delightfully surrounded by our whole family on vacation, or maybe it was too much time on the computer...or maybe it is a lack of a designated project....whatever it was I just knew I needed to find a way to dissolve it....before it continued to grow to be any bigger.

And I have learned that I just need to "get up", "get out" and "get going" when that happens...and change something....for it I don't move, it allows the cloud to settle in....kind of like dust. I knew if I asked God to break into the cloud that he would somehow, someway get me back on His track. I had been putting off running an errand in the Katy area and thought this is the day...so as the afternoon rolled in, I reluctantly gathered up my stuff and started my trek out that way...and as I was driving...I remembered that a precious friend of mine, who was simply put in to my life a couple of years ago, by coincidences that only God could have mustered up through these devotionals...and the internet...(a story grand of its own) lives out that way.



We talk on the internet often but have only really visited in person a couple of times. But God has given us this crazy friendship with Him as our core of unity....and it been such a blessing to both of us. I just wondered as I was driving (clearly God's doing) if she would meet for a cup of coffee..that is a loose term because I seldom drink coffee...and then the conversation in my head started...and I, for a moment, began making excuses because it would be so random ...then realized that this might be God's idea and if it is he will see it through...if not then it won't work out. I didn't have a phone number only an email so I sent her an email via my phone thinking she will probably never get this because computer time for a lot of folks is either early or late....and I went about my chores ... But as God would have it...she did, uncharacteristically she said, check emails and responded and we met at a Jason's deli off of Mason road....we never made it inside...we sat outside at the wrought iron table and visited for over an hour. God has orchestrated the meeting because he knew that He would be the main character in conversation and it would return my thoughts to where they should be ...on my blessings and His gift of friendship....and it did.

Clouds...they are a cover up and they hover...but then as I considered how the day opened up I realized that God was right there....in the midst of the cloud. And I even went a step further and remembered that in the Bible the reference of clouds so often is all about the glory of God (Exodus 16:10,40:34) "His glory appeared as a cloud. So the clouds are those things through which the glory of God is manifested." (The Battle is the Lord'sby Tony Evans)
Exodus 19:9
The LORD said to Moses, "I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you." Then Moses told the LORD what the people had said.

Okay, now think that through. If the reference of clouds is about the glory of God and we so often feel like a cloud is upon us or overshadowing us...then wouldn't it make since that God is in our cloud. Isn't that one of the greatest lessons he is trying to teach us...that it is in the clouds that he beams through His radiance. God is manifested through our clouds.

Clouds to us can be anything from a distressed relationship to losing a loved one....or even something that seems small but has a tendency to nibble away at any peace we may have. And the thing about clouds is they look bulky and solid but when you touch them, you can run your hand right through them.



That might be the way it is with some of the things that cause us the greatest turmoil...they might look bulky and solid but when you go to touch them and truly come face to face with them, they suddenly seem pretty intangible. He can take what appears to be bulky and solid and lift it to be transformed into nothing.... But as long as we want to keep it hidden and not put it in the skies to pass through the reflection of God's light...it will continue to appear to be cumbersome and heavy weighted. . For God can transform a simple cloud into a reflection of his goodness....if we seek to find Him in the midst of our cloud.


He did it yesterday with my cloud...he will do it again with my next cloud. And he is there to help you through yours.



Dear Lord, Clouds do have a way of gathering and hovering over me...help me to see your reflection of light through them and remember to seek your presence, your wisdom, your peace and your joy when I feel them lurking. Amen

Praise God wherever you are and whatever situation He has allowed you to be in . . . His glory will shine through!

website:
www.cathyjodeit.com
email address: cjodeit@gmail.com
The blog link below has all devotionals from the beginning of the year:

http://simplygod-cathy.blogspot.com/