Above the Clouds

Read Psalm 8




Written by Amanda, wife, mother of two, organizer of a few too many side projects, with an addiction to coffee and chocolate, and former college roommate to Alysun. Thank you so much for sharing your heart with us Amanda! We love to use contributed posts and are thrilled that God is showing you amazing things. We are encouraged by what you wrote! 

LORD, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory

in the heavens.

When I consider your heavens,

the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars,

which you have set in place,

what is mankind that you are mindful of them,

human beings that you care for them?

(Psalm 8:1,3-4)

I just came inside from sitting at our backyard fire pit. Earlier in the evening that same fire pit had been surrounded by a bunch of college kids. My husband and I work and live on a Bible College campus and the new school year is upon us. As they left I decided I would sit down and enjoy the rest of the fire...by myself...with no one to interrupt my thoughts... Yes, gold to a mom!




Something drew my gaze up. That something was a beautiful dark sky filled with stars. I often miss this perspective and rarely look up. Why is that? When I sit in my backyard it is usually during the day and it is to referee a energetic group of preschoolers and to fret about the weed count in my garden.



I was struck tonight with how we get so busy in our lives down here “below the cloud cover”. We work and strive and I forget that the same God who formed those magnificent stars also cares deeply about my life. Me...wife, mother of two, organizer of a few too many side projects, with an addiction to coffee and chocolate!

"When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; 

he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. 

He sends lightning with the rain and 

brings out the wind from his storehouses."

Jeremiah 51:16

As I sat there under the stars with the warmth of the fire and the cool September air fighting it out, I thought about flying out of Portland, OR a couple years ago. It was a rainy day when I said goodbye to my dear friend and began the journey back home which included three flights, a six hour layover and a 18 month old!



The clouds were thick as we taxied down the runway. I looked out the window while we made our ascent and what had been a dreary day quickly turned into a beautiful cloudless blue sky with the sun shining. Just like there is hope above our disastrous days below. I get so stuck on what is down here and what I am under, that forget to look past it. Past the clouds and the rain to the sun and the warmth. Past the destination or the job to the star-filled sky above me.

When I consider your heavens,

the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars,

which you have set in place,

what is mankind that you are mindful of them,

human beings that you care for them?

That’s it. That’s the question. That’s where a lot of us get caught. We can’t understand why a God that big would love someone like us. Someone so small. Someone so slow to learn and quick to get angry. I could go on with my list of things I’m not crazy about when it comes to me.




I don’t deserve the attention of the God of the universe. Isn’t he just concerned about the big stuff...the clouds, the stars...you know, the universe? Yet, over and over again in the Bible we read of God taking an interest in mankind and eventually sending His son to die for it.



We read in Psalm 147:3-5 that His understanding has no limit but He also heals the broken hearted and binds up there wounds.

He heals the brokenhearted

and binds up their wounds.

He determines the number of the stars

and calls them each by name.

Great is our Lord and mighty in power;

his understanding has no limit.

I need to learn to live with a different perspective, especially when things down here start to get me down. When the cloud cover is heavier than I can bear, I need to trust that there is blue sky above it. I need to trust that the God of the universe is not too busy but is willing and able to balance it all and meet me in my need.



I think we have a hard time trusting that it’s possible for Him because we have so much trouble keeping all our balls in the air. Step by step we can be us, the women He has made us to be and walk those steps in confidence that he holds the stars in place and us as well.







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