I witnessed the most beautiful sunrise at Juno Beach this morning.

As the sun began to rise, I was completely in awe. Tears were rolling down my cheeks as I thought about how great our God is, how faithful He is, how steady and constant He is.

I was watching the horizon, but because of the clouds, the sun wasn’t rising exactly where I expected it to. I had my camera set up for a time-lapse, pointing in the wrong spot.

Then I noticed the sky starting to change off to the right.

So I moved the camera, and it hit me. At any point, we can refocus our lives. Sometimes we are looking in the wrong direction, but God gently shows us where to turn.

As the sun continued to rise, little pink slivers of light broke through the clouds. And I thought about how we are like those clouds. We may be broken, but through the cracks, God still shines. He lets the light through to remind us there is always hope.

And there is hope.

As I watched, the hymn Great Is Thy Faithfulness came to mind, and I started humming it through tears. For a moment, there was this perfect circle of light shining through the clouds, not the full sun, just enough to be seen.

It felt like one of those “aha” moments in life, when everything pauses and all you can say is, “Thank You, Lord.”

Then the sun rose a little higher, and that perfect circle closed as a thick, dark strip of cloud stayed right in place. It wasn’t moving at all. And I thought about trials. How sometimes we go through seasons that feel heavy, dark, and stuck, like they will never lift.

But even then, God is still there on the other side. He is shining just as brightly as ever, even when we cannot fully see Him.

As the sun kept rising, I noticed the silver lining on top of that dark cloud. A real silver lining. And it made me stop and think about how often we hear that phrase without truly understanding it. There it was, clear as day, God’s reminder that light always follows darkness.

It made me think about the chapter on perseverance in The Greatest Salesman, “I will persist until I succeed.” That sun kept rising, pushing past every cloud, until it finally broke through in full glory.

Then my attention shifted, I noticed the birds flying low over the water. Five or six of them in a straight line. I had never noticed this before. The lead bird would flap its wings, then the next one, and the next, until all of them flapped. Then they would glide again together.

I thought, what a leader.

And how blessed we are to have Christ, who walked this earth, showed us the way, and leads us in love. We follow Him the best we can, and He remains our constant.

Thank You, Lord, for all You showed me this morning. Thank You for waking me up and calling me to this beach to witness this daily miracle. You are faithful. You are constant.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.