When Rainy Days Bring Feelings to the Surface: Learning to Dream in Color
When Rainy Days Bring Feelings to the Surface: Learning to Dream in Color 🌧️🌈
By Angel, Founder of AMC Rise and Thrive
🌅 Welcome,
Friend
Come on in.
Maybe today feels a little gray where you are, too.
Maybe it is literally raining outside. Maybe the skies are
clear, but something inside of you feels cloudy. Maybe you woke up carrying an
emotion you can't quite name, or maybe you know exactly what you're feeling but
don't really know what to do with it.
Either way, take a breath.
You don't have to have everything figured out before you sit
down here with me.
Sometimes we just need a moment to be human.
And today, that's where I am.
A little in my feelings.
A little reflective.
A little grateful.
And, honestly, a little surprised by where my thoughts took
me.
So, grab your coffee—or whatever your comfort drink happens to
be—and let's talk. ☕🤍
💛
Sometimes a Rainy Day Changes the Rhythm
The past few days have been rainy, which has put a little
pause on something we've been enjoying: going to the beach.
We've been spending time outside, enjoying the water, getting
some fresh air, and just being present. But apparently the weather had other
plans.
And that's okay.
When it rains, my family and I have a tradition of pulling out
those giant 1,000-piece puzzles. So far, we've completed two.
Yes.
Two.
And because apparently two wasn't enough, I went to the
library here on the property and picked up two more.
Because clearly I enjoy making life unnecessarily difficult. 😂
I also had to make a Walmart run because I ran out of coffee
creamer, and I don't know what kind of spiritual lesson God could possibly be
teaching me through that situation, but I know one thing:
I need my coffee.
I placed a pickup order and decided, while I was at it, to
make about two pounds of jalapeño poppers.
Will I regret that decision later?
Probably.
Did I care at the time?
Absolutely not. 😂
My husband decided to take our son for a walk on the beach
while I went to pick up the groceries.
And somewhere between the coffee creamer, the jalapeño
poppers, and the drive back home, my day took a completely unexpected turn.
Because sometimes the mind needs a little time to catch up
with what the heart already knows.
🌧️ When
Feelings Catch Up With Us
My phone had been reminding me all morning that my friend's
birthday was coming up in a week.
It alerted me several times.
I ignored every single one because I was sleeping.
But before I headed out, I finally saw the reminder for what
it was.
Her birthday.
She passed away in March.
And suddenly, something that had been sitting quietly in the
background became very real.
It's interesting how grief works.
We can know something intellectually and still not fully feel
it.
We can know someone is gone.
We can know their birthday is approaching.
We can know the date of their passing.
We can know all the facts.
And then one ordinary little reminder can open a door inside
of us that we didn't realize was still there.
I think that's because our minds and our hearts don't always
move at the same speed.
Sometimes our minds understand something long before our
emotions are ready to process it.
And sometimes our emotions arrive later, quietly knocking on
the door.
That doesn't mean we're going backward.
It means we're human.
💭 The
Things That Surface When We're Quiet
I've always had a tendency to get lost in my thoughts while
I'm driving.
I'm paying attention to the road. I'm aware of what's
happening around me.
But something about being alone in the car creates space.
The noise gets quieter.
There aren't as many distractions.
And suddenly thoughts and feelings that I didn't realize were
sitting underneath everything else begin making their way to the surface.
So, I put on a playlist I had created for my friend when I
knew she was going into hospice.
There were songs on that playlist that I wanted to share with
her.
Songs I wanted her to hear.
Songs I never got the chance to share.
And now, whenever I hear them, I think of her.
I think about her husband, too.
I wonder what it must feel like for him to have her birthday
approaching without her here to celebrate it.
And as I drove, the tears started coming.
Not dramatically.
Not because I was trying to make myself cry.
They just came.
I wasn't really controlling it.
And there was something strangely peaceful about not having to
explain myself.
Nobody was sitting beside me asking, "What's wrong?"
Because honestly, I wasn't sure how to answer that question.
Nothing was necessarily wrong.
I was just feeling.
And sometimes that's all there is to say.
I was remembering.
I was missing someone.
I was thinking about love.
I was thinking about loss.
I was thinking about the things we never got to say and the
songs we never got to share.
And for a few miles, I simply let the tears fall.
🌱 There Is
Nothing Wrong With Feeling
I think we sometimes make emotions harder than they need to
be.
We want to know why we're sad.
Why we're irritated.
Why we're suddenly nostalgic.
Why a song can take us back twenty years in the span of three
minutes.
Why a smell, a photograph, a birthday reminder, or a familiar
place can make us feel something we thought we had already worked through.
But feelings don't always need to be solved.
Sometimes they need to be witnessed.
There is a difference between allowing yourself to feel
something and allowing that feeling to control your entire life.
You can acknowledge sadness without becoming sadness.
You can experience grief without losing hope.
You can have a difficult day without deciding that your entire
life is difficult.
And you can cry without needing to apologize for the tears.
Maybe that's part of what emotional maturity looks like.
Not becoming someone who never gets emotional.
But becoming someone who can sit with an emotion long enough
to understand what it is trying to tell you.
🍃 And Then
Life Keeps Moving
Eventually, I came home.
And what did I do?
I made those jalapeño poppers.
Because life is funny like that.
You can spend part of your day crying over someone you love
and then find yourself standing in the kitchen making food.
You can grieve and laugh in the same afternoon.
You can miss someone deeply and still enjoy something
delicious.
You can have tears in your eyes and a smile on your face.
Human beings are complicated like that.
Our lives are not divided into neat little boxes labeled sad,
happy, healing, grieving, and doing okay.
Sometimes they're all happening at once.
And that's okay.
I cleaned up, went outside for a smoke, and the playlist
continued playing.
Then the song of the day came on.
And suddenly I wasn't only thinking about my friend anymore.
I was thinking about me.
🌈 The Girl
I Used to Be
The song was "Dream In Color" by Regina Belle.
I remembered hearing it when I was a little girl.
And here's the thing:
I related to it more than a child probably should have.
There was something about the message of that song that stayed
with me.
The idea that life could be more than what was immediately in
front of you.
The idea of refusing to live a flat, limited version of
yourself.
The idea of wanting something deeper.
Wanting to see more.
Experience more.
Love more fully.
Dream beyond the boundaries of what you already know.
Years later, I shared that same song with my husband.
Back then, it was on a CD that I carried around in my car.
Yes, a CD.
For those of you who remember those days, you know. 😂
I shared it with him because sometimes music can say something
about us that we don't know how to put into words ourselves.
There are parts of ourselves that music can reach before
language ever catches up.
That song allowed me to show him a side of me.
A side that had dreams.
A side that felt deeply.
A side that wanted more from life than simply existing.
And all these years later, that part of me is still here.
She just looks a little different now.
✨ Growing
Doesn't Mean Becoming Someone Else
I think sometimes we assume personal growth means leaving our
younger selves behind.
But what if growth is actually about understanding them?
What if the dreams we had as children weren't all foolish
fantasies?
What if some of them were little glimpses of who we were
always becoming?
Now, I'm not saying every childhood dream needs to be chased
into adulthood.
Some things belong to a particular season.
But sometimes there is something underneath the dream that
remains.
Maybe the child who wanted adventure was really longing for
freedom.
Maybe the child who wanted to help everyone was already
sensing a calling toward service.
Maybe the child who loved music was learning how deeply sound
could connect the heart.
Maybe the child who imagined a different life was simply
refusing to believe that the circumstances around her were the final definition
of who she could become.
That's something worth remembering.
You don't have to become your younger self again.
But you don't have to abandon her either.
You can carry the best parts of who you were into who you're
becoming.
🙏 What If
God Is Still Teaching You to Dream?
This is where I find God in the middle of ordinary moments.
Not necessarily in some dramatic revelation.
Sometimes God meets us in the car.
In the rain.
In a song.
In a memory.
In a puzzle spread across the table.
In coffee.
In tears.
In the quiet realization that even after everything you've
lived through, there are still things inside you that want to grow.
What if the rainy season of your life isn't proof that
everything has stopped?
What if it is simply creating a different kind of space?
We often want the sunshine because sunshine feels productive.
We want movement.
Progress.
Answers.
Forward motion.
But there are things that can only surface when life gets
quiet.
And maybe some of those things need to be felt before they can
be released.
Maybe some dreams need to be remembered before they can be
pursued.
Maybe some grief needs permission before healing can continue.
And maybe God isn't asking you to have the whole path figured
out.
Maybe He's simply asking you to keep walking with Him.
🚶🏽♀️ So What Do We Do With
the Feelings?
First, let yourself feel.
Not forever.
Not without boundaries.
But honestly.
If you're sad, acknowledge that you're sad.
If you're tired, admit that you're tired.
If you're grieving, give grief some room.
If you're dreaming again, don't immediately talk yourself out
of it.
Then ask yourself what the feeling might be revealing.
Is there something you miss?
Something you need?
Something you've been avoiding?
Something you're ready to release?
Something you're ready to begin?
You don't have to make a major life decision simply because
you had an emotional moment.
Sometimes the faithful step is much smaller.
Write something down.
Say a prayer.
Listen to a song.
Call someone you love.
Take a walk.
Sit quietly.
Make the thing you were craving.
Do a puzzle with your family.
Drink your coffee.
Laugh.
Cry.
Rest.
Then get up tomorrow and take the next step.
That's still progress.
❤️ A
Moment to Sit With Yourself
Before you rush into whatever comes next, sit with these
questions for a moment:
What feeling has been quietly asking for my
attention lately?
Is there something—or someone—I need to allow
myself to grieve?
What part of my younger self still has something
to teach me?
What dream have I stopped allowing myself to
imagine?
Where might God be inviting me to see my life with
fresh eyes?
You don't need perfect answers.
Just honest ones.
And if you feel comfortable, take those answers into prayer.
You might be surprised by what becomes clear when you stop
trying to force clarity.
🌟
Affirmations
- I
give myself permission to feel without judgment.
- My
emotions are part of my journey, not the definition of me.
- I
can honor where I've been while embracing where God is leading me.
- I am
still allowed to dream, grow, love, and begin again.
- I
choose to see possibility even in gray seasons. 🌈
📖 Bible
Verse
"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy
cometh in the morning."
— Psalm 30:5, KJV
I love this verse because it doesn't pretend we won't have
nights of weeping.
It doesn't tell us that faithful people never cry.
It acknowledges that sorrow has a place.
But it also reminds us that sorrow does not get the final
word.
There is a morning.
There is another day.
There is still life ahead.
Sometimes the morning doesn't arrive as a dramatic
transformation. Sometimes it looks like getting out of bed. Making coffee.
Hugging your family. Going outside. Laughing at something ridiculous. Returning
to a dream you thought you'd forgotten.
Healing can be quiet.
Hope can be ordinary.
And God can be present in all of it.
So, if you're in a rainy season right now, don't assume the
rain means your story has stopped.
There may still be color waiting to emerge.
🎵 Song of
the Day
"Dream In Color" by Regina Belle
This song feels especially meaningful to me today because it
connects so many different versions of my life.
There was the little girl who heard it and felt something in
it that she couldn't fully explain.
There was the young woman carrying a CD in her car, wanting
someone she loved to understand a deeper part of her.
And there is the woman I am today, sitting with grief,
gratitude, memories, faith, family, and a whole lot of life still ahead.
The heart of the song is about refusing to settle for a life
without depth or imagination. It's about seeing beyond the ordinary, valuing
love, embracing possibility, and recognizing that life is precious because our
time here is precious.
And perhaps that's why it found me again today.
Because sometimes we need to be reminded that feeling deeply
and dreaming deeply can exist in the same heart.
You can miss someone and still dream.
You can grieve and still laugh.
You can have a rainy day and still look for color.
So, listen to the song.
Let yourself feel whatever comes up.
And if it brings a memory with it, don't rush to push that
memory away.
Maybe there's something in it worth remembering.
🌼 Final
Thoughts
I'm not perfect.
I don't always say the right thing.
I don't always handle every situation exactly the way I wish I
had.
But I try.
I try to show up for the people I love.
I try to be kind when I can.
And sometimes, wisdom looks like knowing when to keep my mouth
closed because saying more will only make a situation worse.
I'm still learning.
Still growing.
Still becoming.
Still a work in progress.
And maybe that's why this song still means something to me
after all these years.
Because I may not be the same person I was when I first heard
it, but something about the message still reaches me.
As I look at AMC Rise and Thrive and see this little space
growing—more than 25,000 views as we're heading into October 2026—I can't help
but wonder who might stumble across these words at exactly the right moment.
Maybe someone is having a rainy day.
Maybe someone is grieving.
Maybe someone feels disconnected from the dreams they once
had.
Maybe someone simply needs permission to cry without
explaining why.
If that's you, I hope you give yourself that permission.
Feel what you feel.
Honor what you've lived through.
Keep loving.
Keep growing.
Keep dreaming.
And when you can, dream in color. 🌈
Because your story isn't finished simply because today feels
gray.
There is still beauty ahead.
There are still songs you haven't heard.
Places you haven't seen.
People you haven't met.
Prayers you haven't prayed.
Dreams you haven't imagined yet.
So, take your time.
Let God work in the quiet places.
And when the next faithful step becomes clear, take it.
Keep trusting.
Keep believing.
Keep becoming.
And above all, keep finding reasons to rise and thrive.
🤍
With love and gratitude,
Angel 🤍
AMC Rise and Thrive
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