Today is my 31st birthday and I’m here to tell you the sun comes out again. A year ago, on my 30th birthday, my life looked much different.
I woke up in a coral colored room with nothing but a makeshift closet in the corner and rough industrial carpet beneath my feet. I was living in a Ronald McDonald House four hours away from my family. My parents brought the kids up and did their best to make the day special. We swam at a resort pool and I felt bursts of joy at the sight of my kids splashing and the sound of their exhilarated squeals.
But uncertainty loomed in the hot summer air and would take my breath away despite the joy surrounding me. I was 35 weeks pregnant with a baby who had a known kidney defect, but many more unknowns. He came early and spent the first 10 days of his life in the NICU. We came home, but health scares were around every corner.
It took several months for them to mostly fade. I’m here with all three of my children a year later and the sun is out today. Life isn’t perfect, neither of my boys are pictures of health, but the sun is out.
Here’s the thing about the sun coming out after a storm—it doesn’t erase the damage caused by the wind and rain. The landscape you knew may never quite look the same as it did before. But in the light of its rays, God will show you things you may have once overlooked. He will also make new things bloom.
If you are sitting in the middle of a storm right now, the picture of your life may never look the same, but if you are living and breathing, know that the sun will rise again.
Behind the post:
Dear friend, please know I do not mean to gloss over whatever you are going through. I know life can be dark and I’ve sat in its shadows several times over the last four years. I know not everything may turn out the way you want it to (I’ve certainly heard my few shares of “no’s” before) but no matter the circumstance, I believe there’s joy on the other side. If you look hard enough- you may even see its light while in the dark.
