Sunset...Sunrise

I told you during the Florida recap that I wanted to tell you about this moment. I feel kind of strange telling you about it when I still don't know entirely what it means. But here goes.

You may or may not have noticed my love of gorgeous sunsets. I had my little self parked on that sand every single night we were home at sunset. God said some pretty pivotal things to me during some of those sunsets.

Promises. Revelations. Urgings.

The very last night I was in Florida, I was home alone at sunset. I was busy trying to pack and get some reading done and enjoy the small bit of rest and quiet time. I wasn't even going to go watch the last sunset. But I was on the phone with Mom, and she said, "Go see it! You'll be glad later that you did."

So I threw on my hoodie, grabbed my camera, and ran to the edge of the line of cottages. I didn't even go all the way down to "my spot" this time.
That was the last sunset picture I captured. The sun was already that far down before I arrived. And as I snapped the picture, God reminded me of the things He'd spoken to my heart that week on that beach. Not just at sunset, but many other times, too.

And He said, This is a sunset for you. Not a literal sunset, but a heart-sunset. All these things we've talked about...all these things I've asked you to come undone about...you leave them here. Let the sun set on those things.

I'd been reading in When Love Ends while I was on vacation, and the author said in the introduction to the book, "Every story has a beginning and an end." And I wrote in my journal, This vacation has shown me so much how the end has come for many of my pivotal friendships and relationships.

And though that sunset, God made the end beautiful. Made it concrete.

And I thought that was the end.

But it wasn't.

The next morning, as you may remember, we had to get up at five to make it back to the airport. As we drove toward Tampa, the sun began to come up, ever so slowly. Since I so rarely see a sunrise, I thought I'd snap a picture:

Beautiful.

And God (who apparently speaks even at this hour) whispered to me right there in a packed-to-the-gills Altima, I brought your morning. Walk toward it.

(In my desert journey, one of my theme songs was Josh Wilson's Before the Morning. I love it when God mentions that.)

I knew my new beginning was before me. The sun had set...and I was riding toward the morning.