The Sunrise of Impossibility

One thing to know about me is that I love being in the city! For those of you who are not from New York, when I say “the city,” I mean Manhattan. Yes, yes . . . New York City is composed of five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island. However, for those of us who grew up here, when we say “the city,” we mean Manhattan. All that to say, I LOVE being in the city (Manhattan)! There is so much to do there! So much to discover. I’ve lived in NYC my whole life and am still finding new places to explore.

The other day, I was having a staycation with my best friend at a hotel near Columbus Circle. Vacation or not, my body wakes up at 4:30 a.m. . . . without an alarm! So, I did the only reasonable thing there was to do—go on an adventure!

Shower, clothes, sneakers, AirPods, phone, hotel key—check! I was ready for this early-morning adventure-turned-mission. What was the mission, you may ask? Well . . . let me tell you! My mission was to see the sunrise. I absolutely love sunsets. If you check out my photo gallery, you will see that it’s a whole thing. But this day was my rare opportunity to see the rising of the sun, and I was not going to miss it.

My first attempt was to watch the sunrise from the hotel’s rooftop. However, it was closed until 11 a.m.

Attempt #1: FAILED!

After working so hard to get to the rooftop with zero success, my only logical option was to do what many before me have done: give up! I thought about taking the train to the South Street Seaport and watching it from there, but I was already on the West Side, and having to transfer trains just to potentially miss it was not something I was interested in. New plan: walk through Central Park.

The walk to the park was dark and quiet, yet beautiful? There is something about walking the streets of NYC in the early morning hours that fills me with peace—dare I say, joy. For starters, barely anyone is out. No one rushing and bumping into you, no tourists standing in the middle of the sidewalk with zero regard for the people around them, no one to annoy or bother you. Just some people jogging and some people going to work. Peaceful.

Although I was enjoying the walk, I was disappointed. The sunrise was my desire, but I was settling for something less because I thought what I truly wanted was impossible. And to some degree, it was! It was already 5:30 a.m. at this point, and the next bus to the East Side was not coming for another 20 minutes. By the time the bus came and got me to the East River, I would have missed the best parts of the sunrise. It was not looking promising. Dare I say, it seemed impossible. The funny thing about God is that this is where He loves to shine.

Just when I accepted the “reality” that this was not going to happen for me, there came a gentle whisper saying,

“Jasmine, you have a Citi Bike membership. Get on a bike.”

That’s right! I could bike over there! The disappointment I felt was replaced with a new, rising hope. I was going to see the sunrise!

Everything in me believes that this was God’s plan all along. When I got to the Citi Bike station, there was only one bike available, and it was an e-bike (vroom vroom). On top of this, someone else arrived at the station at the same time as me and was going to take that last bike. But here comes the Lord, providing just in time. A worker was there and began refilling the docks with more bikes. Not only did I get a bike—a fast one at that—but the person who was about to take away my last hope of seeing the sunrise was given their own bike. Coincidence? Some may consider it so, but not me. This was all God. Where He guides, He provides.

And so my journey officially began! With no particular destination in mind, knowing only that the sun rises in the east, I hopped on the bike and started riding. Wonderful. The best word to describe it. The wind blowing in my hair, the worship music blasting in my ears . . . It was just wonderful.

Finding the closest bike dock, I parked and walked the remainder of the way. Remember when I said there is so much to discover? Well, I discovered a new place! Right near the Queensboro Bridge, I found Andrew Haswell Green Park, connected to the East River Greenway. It was charming and calm, truly adorable and right up my alley.

However, because the park overlooks Roosevelt Island, the buildings on the island were in the way of my view. So I made my way onto the Greenway’s walking path, trying to get as far north as I possibly could. The path eventually led to a blockage that did not allow me to go any farther due to construction, but it was perfect. That exact spot overlooked the end of the island, giving me just enough space to see the sunrise. And wow, was it beautiful!

This whole adventure reminded me that nothing is impossible with God.

The desire of my heart was to see the rising of the sun, but I thought it was impossible. So instead of trusting God, I was prepared to settle for something less. I was about to give up on the thing I truly wanted because I thought there was no way it could happen. But there comes God. The God of the impossible, the One who can do all things. The One who can move mountains, the One who can heal the blind, the One who can raise the dead back to life. There He comes, making a way for me to do something I almost wrote off as impossible. Not only was it possible, but it was better than I could’ve imagined.

We all have a tendency to give up on things just because we can’t see how they will work out. For some of you, it may be the dream of becoming a parent. For others, it may be pursuing the career you’ve always wanted or walking toward something God placed on your heart. When the way forward looks impossible, we begin convincing ourselves that it would be easier to stop hoping and settle for whatever feels within reach.

Now, this doesn’t mean that all our desires are promised by God. Trusting God does not mean demanding that He give us everything we want. It means refusing to place limits on what the Lord is able to do. It means trusting His ability, His wisdom and His way—even when we cannot see how the story will unfold.

Settling reveals something about us: We don’t trust that God is able. When we decide that something is impossible, we’re saying, “I don’t believe God can make a way here.” So instead of leaving room for God to move, we create a lesser version that we can accomplish ourselves.

Abraham and Sarah knew this all too well. God had promised Abraham descendants, but biologically speaking, it seemed impossible. When God first began revealing this promise, they were already old. I’m not talking about premenopausal, late-40s-or-early-50s old, when there may still be a slight possibility. I’m talking about “I need to get my affairs in order” kind of old. Abraham was about 75 years old when God told him He would make him into a great nation. It started with impossible.

As the years passed with no baby in sight, Sarah decided to settle. She gave her slave, Hagar, to Abraham as a wife so they could have a child through her. In that moment, Sarah gave in to what appeared impossible. Instead of continuing to trust God to fulfill His promise, she settled for a lesser version of the promise that she created on her own. Eventually, she came to realize how bad that choice was. Taking control led to heartache for everyone involved.

However, God had not forgotten His promise. When Abraham was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him again and told him that Sarah was going to give birth to the promised son. Both Abraham and Sarah were feeling the weight of the impossible. Abraham fell facedown, laughed and said, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” Then he said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!” (Genesis 17:17–18 NIV). Abraham couldn’t see past the impossible, so he asked God to fulfill His promise through Ishmael, the son conceived through their own intervention.

Sometime later, the Lord appeared to Abraham again and told him that Sarah would have a son around that time the following year. Sarah overheard their conversation and laughed, thinking to herself, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?” (Genesis 18:12 NIV).

The two of them looked around. Looked at their circumstances and laughed, for a moment giving in to the impossible. But here comes God, asking the very question we still need to ask ourselves thousands of years later:

“Is anything too hard for the LORD?” (Genesis 18:14 NIV)

The answer is no. Nothing is too hard for God. Not a child in old age. Not a sunrise that seems out of reach. Not the thing you’ve written off as impossible. God is able.

My final question to you is this: Will you trust Him with the impossible?

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The Sunrise of Impossibility

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