Life Lessons from Annie

No Annie isn't a new friend I have made here in Utah. I am referring to good ole' "Annie", orphan Annie. "The sun will come out tomorrow..."

Which actually brings me to my first point. The song. It is true. When you are experiencing what is dark and gray, the sun will come out. There is a bible verse:

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

We were going over this verse with Alia tonight because she was upset she has been naughty as of lately. We told her how forgiveness was hers and now she should think of good things, but she wasn't able to, so out we pulled this verse. At the very moment that I was reading it Brandon called us upstairs to witness the most AMAZING double rainbow I have seen. Gods Promise.



It goes to show that through your hard times, there is beauty somewhere with in them, even through the rain you can see the sun. With out the rain, you would not have a rainbow like this. With out your tears and pain, you wouldn't have the ability to experience the all encompassing joy, or the true feeling of contentment that is in your future path.

Getting back to Annie, we decided, when Alia asked us what an orphan was, what better way to explain it to her than show her the movie. So we had a movie night with the two girls.

While watching it, I saw it from a perspective I haven't looked at before. First of all the scantily clad Mrs. Hanagan was a little more risque than I remember. Which I suppose is good because it stands to say my daughters probably won't remember her either.

What I did notice however, was how positive Annie was. How her outlook was one of joy and happiness. And when she was sad, she tried to turn that into some sort joy. To her, that joy seemed to be in song, but when she sang, you'll notice, she smiled.

We need to look for the joy, the silver lining, the rainbow in all our situations. Not just the happy ones, they are easy to smile upon. But the hard ones too.

I bring this up because the past week was filled with crying and depression for me. It wasn't because my home life was bad, or my marriage, or my kids were bad, or something terrible happened...I honestly can't tell you why I experienced those feelings. But I did let them get to me. Watching this movie I found myself wanting to aspire to be like Annie.

Alyssa commented, "I want to be in this movie". I heard myself saying, with true conviction, "I do too honey."

I meant it, I liked how I felt watching it. I liked the joy and the positive outlooks on everything. How when she was told she was going back to the orphanage, instead of crying and throwing a fit, she looked for all the positives that did happen to her over the course of the day and thanked him for those. That is what God is looking for from us. It not only frees our insides, it makes us beautiful on the outside, because it shows through.

Be real, but be open with God. He can fill your empty heart. He can heal your hurts. He can solve your problems. If you get quiet and still and listen for his un-audible voice you will find it, in your heart. Look for the positives in life, there are always some.

I challenge you to find even one thing good, when you are feeling like the world is down on you. Just one, no matter how small.

Feel free to share with me how you have found the rainbow through the rain in your situation.