And so it begins, this new blog here.

I was inspired by Alice over at “What’s On My Mind Grapes?” to start up a new blog.  I love reading her posts because they’re so interesting, entertaining, and real.  Some people have been asking me what I’m going to write about.  I’m not entirely sure yet, probably musings, thoughts, things I do, things I want to do, something that will also be interesting to other people.  I guess you’ll have to wait and see.

Why “Silver Lining Sunset”?

Sunsets.  I LOVE LOVE sunsets!  The are so beautiful, amazing, and captive.  Sunsets also make me very happy!  I can watch sunsets forever and I can snap a million pictures of them (though pictures never seem to come even close to what the eye can see).  During times where I really need to clear my mind, get away, or spend some time with God, I go to the beach or the park and watch the sunset.  The sunset reminds me of God’s grace for us, His presence, and His almighty creativity.

Silver Lining.  This goes back to a time in my life last year where I was really struggling with a lot of what was going on in my life.  I was extremely stressed and unhappy and it was really taking a toll on my mind and even wearing out my body due to the lack of sleep.  Here’s a little excerpt from that time:

I had just finished my run at the lake and found a nice spot to stretch.  There weren’t many people around and I had a perfect view of the lake and the beginning of a sunset.  I was staring at the sky and clouds and the sun behind the clouds and thought that there would be a really pretty sunset today.  I like sunsets.  I like them.  A lot.  With the sun behind the clouds, it created a glowing silver lining.  Glowing.  I couldn’t help but think of recent events and what I’m going through at the moment.  Silver lining.  And so I thought, at least there’s a silver lining.  As I stared into the sun, the clouds began to move.  The sun started to get brighter and brighter until it was only surrounded by the clouds that were just covering it.  I was fixated and stared into the sun so much I couldn’t see anything else.  It became SO BRIGHT.  At that moment, I smiled.  God’s light is so strong that nothing can hold it back.  I was reminded at how strong and powerful He is – that even in darkness, His light shines through.  His light shines brighter than all.  If you think about being in a dark room with the door closed and all you can see is the light in the crack – you become fixated on that little bit of light.  That little bit of light in the darkness brings hopes.  On the contrary, in a bright room, you don’t see darkness.  Light prevails.  Light prevails in the darkness.  Darkness does not prevail in the light.  Staring into the sun and watching it get brighter and brighter reminded me that redemption is beautiful.  Light in darkness reminded me that grace is beautiful.

The past few days have been really rough – I have been so stressed that I haven’t been able to sleep.  It will all be over so soon.  4 more days.  Today was a good reminder that in the end, God wins.  His light can overcome the darkness.  His light is so bright that once you see it, you can’t see anything else.  Let light prevail.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. – John 1:5

So there you have it, Silver Lining Sunset, a reminder of God’s beautiful grace and beauty.  Coming up with a name wasn’t difficult, keeping up with blogging might be but I hope to stay with it!