The Beautiful Sunset

My friend, Jan, posted this picture on Facebook tonight, along with the following status.  She gave me permission to share it and the status.



I love the westward trip to Lubbock at sunset. God's sky is always so amazing, but one thing I have noticed is that the sunset is so much more spectacular when there are clouds present. The colors reflected and the light that shines through reflect the glory of God in a stunning way. This causes me to wonder, ---Do we allow the clouds in our lives to reflect God's glory to those who are watching? Do we let the love and the grace of God shine through our struggles and our trials to the world around us?

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,  and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

1 Peter 1:3-7 (underlined in places for emphasis)

Thank you, Jan, for your thought-provoking status!  Sometimes it's hard to "Shine Like Stars" or like the light in the sunset with those clouds in the way, but we must always remember that, at those times are when our lights are shining the brightest! The world is watching how we react in the storms....and so are our fellow-Christians and our families.