As I left work today, I noticed the sun was shining but it was also raining. Usually when this happens there is a rainbow close by. So I kept an eye out, and sure enough, there was a beautiful rainbow. I also happened to be listening to Beethoven's 6th Symphony (the Pastoral symphony) at the time, and the music just happened to fit so well with the sky outside that I praised God. (This isn't the first time this type of thing has happened to me. My life is one big soundtrack.) I love rainbows, for many reasons, but the biggest is the reminder of God's promise to Noah after the flood:

I am making a covenant with you and your descendants, and with the animals you brought with you--all these birds and livestock and wild animals. I solemnly promise never to send another flood to kill all living creatures and destroy the earth. And God said, "I am giving you a sign as evidence of my eternal covenant and all living creatures. I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my permanent promise to you and to all the earth. When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will be seen in the clouds, and I will remember my covenant with you and with everything that lives. Never again will there be a flood that will destroy all life. When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth."  (Genesis 9:8-16)

So every time I see a rainbow, I am reminded of God's promise (the first of many, many promises He's made and kept), and my heart is at peace. And when I see that and listen to that Symphony, I feel the peace that passes all understanding. I feel close to God, and realize that I am His daughter and nothing can change that.

The other thing about rainbows is that they don't appear in perfectly blue skies. There are some clouds and some rain and some sun. I think this suggests that God does some of His best work through our trials. We have to go through these things so that His will can be perfected in us and we can be a witness to others. To get the rainbow, we have to go through the clouds....but He is with us always.