When I see a rainbow, I think of Miss Lydia and how a rainbow’s appearance renewed my faith. Miss Lydia was the sister of my aunt’s neighbor. As I sat on the neighbor’s front porch with her, I so enjoyed her stories of the time she lived and worked in Andalusia. We laughed a lot.

One morning as I pulled out of my driveway on the way to work, there was a prayer on my lips because word had reached me that this dear friend was losing her courageous battle with a terminal illness. Beside me on the seat was an envelope I’d just addressed to her. The card I’d slipped into the envelope was filled with scripture verses, words of comfort and inspiration to one who was sick. I knew that sometimes she had felt despair. I admit I felt a little myself then, realizing my friend might not last much longer.

As I drove, I pondered the mysteries of life and thrilled anew at the promise of eternal life. Still my heart ached sympathy with Miss Lydia’s suffering. Then I rounded a curve in the road and flushed a quail from the bushes. Several mockingbirds sailed across my path into a field. When I topped a little rise on the dirt road, I saw it—a rainbow. My heartbeat quickened and I marveled at the bright colors curving across the sky. When I reached the paved highway, I had a hard time holding the car in the road because I kept watching to make sure the rainbow was still there. God had a big surprise for me. Once I turned off the county road and onto the paved highway, I was greeted with a panoramic view of the rainbow. It arched above the highway in all its majestic brilliance; a perfect half circle straight ahead of me.

As it hung there before me in its splendor, I remembered the story of God’s covenant with Noah when the ark had arrived safely after the great flood, that never again would all living beings be destroyed by a flood. Never again would a flood destroy the earth.

I looked up the scripture when I reached work and found the words in Genesis 9:16-17. “When the rainbow appears in the clouds I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between me and all living beings on earth. That is the sign of the promise which I am making to all living beings.”

I saw the edges of the rainbow reflecting in a field, but lost it when I was even with that point. That meant I had passed under the arch of the rainbow. I realized how very human I am—reaching for some visible evidence, some proof besides the faith that lives in the heart that God is there, looking out for us.

That morning God splashed that wonderful promise against the sky. My faith was renewed. I knew he was watching out for Miss Lydia.

Nina Keenam is a former newspaper reporter.