rainbows and a breakthrough

I'm obsessive about water.  Not having water makes me crazy with worry.  When we lived in Africa we had water one day a week, most weeks.  That wasn't drinking water- that was whole house washing, bathing, etc water.  We were blessed with a house that had a ton of water tanks. Huge water tanks.  But if you aren't sure that the water is going to actually come on Saturday like it is supposed to then you need to make sure that every drop counts.  So normally I'd fill buckets with laundry water to mop the floors with.  We washed dishes once a day and laundry was done when the water was flowing.  Jonathan and I learned to bath in a bathroom sink of water. 

Anyway, 7 years and a continent difference and I'm still obsessive about water. Generally I can't make myself stop.  So wasting water is a big no no in my house.  The house we have now gets city water every other day- for the most part.  We have a large outside cistern and then 2 water tanks on the roof.  For the water to flow into the outside ground cistern it has to be turned on and then turned off or the water will flow all over the ground (again, making me nuts).  And then we turn on the pump to take the water from the ground cistern up to the roof tanks.  The roof tanks give us water pressure throughout the house.  So most mornings, I start the day by opening the front doors and going out to check the cistern and turn on the water.  I go out later to turn it off. When I see that the cistern is pretty well full, I face a crazy lady dilemma.  Do I 1. Turn off the water knowing that the cistern isn't full to the brim but is more than satisfactory.  or 2.  Go back inside and wait anoter 15-30 minutes to let the water go all the way to the tippy top because you never know.  or 3. Stand around on the front porch for a few minutes pulling weeds in the flowers, wrestling with my own crazy obsession and waiting to get a few more minutes of water.  Yeah, its normally 2 or 3.  But today, Today, it was #1!!!  This, people, is a serious crazy lady breakthrough.  And clearly I'm still obsessing, I just wrote 2 paragraphs on water. 

We've had a few hard days this last week, full of worry and feelings of hopelessness.  But guess what God did today.  A rainbow.  No kidding, a great big beautiful rainbow.  Actually it was a double but the second part didn't show up well in the pictures.  I went out at dinner to obsessively turn off the water and I saw it.  I was able to turn off the water with a little less anxiety tonight because of the rainbow.  The light went really quickly though.  It had been raining most of the afternoon and the sun only came out to set.  But there it was.  A rainbow for the soul asking for hope.  So thankful