When my wife and I started driving toward Mount Rainier from Seattle last month, the sky was royal blue. We were pumped, hopeful we’d be able to see it. We had read that sighting the highest mountain in Washington can be fraught with disappointment, remaining elusive.

When we got there, about 90 minutes later, the air was indeed let out of our balloon as a thick cloud enshrouded the 14,410-foot, still-active volcano. Bummer.

Okay, that’s alright, no worry. There was the next day. After turning off the alarm and looking outside, we sighed. A thick, soupy fog had rolled in overnight and we could barely see anything in front of us, let alone the mountain. But we were advised to drive to the other side of Rainier, where often the fog lifts long before where we were staying. So off we went. But once again, our bubble was burst. Though the fog had lifted and the sun had come out, it remained obscured, still cloud-covered.

Lynda and I prayed that night, asking God if it would be His will, to please allow us to see Mount Rainier before we had to drive eastward the next day. Our dreams were dashed, though, as an even heavier fog greeted us when we awoke.

We couldn’t hide our disappointment. And yet, we still thanked God for a great vacation and the wonderful hikes and other gorgeous scenery we had enjoyed while there. We’d just have to return!

On the way out of the national park, my eye caught a picturesque scene of some other buttes becoming visible through the fog. We stopped to grab one more photo before heading to visit family hours away in the southeastern corner of Washington. As I was enjoying that awe-inspiring view to our right, Lynda was captivated by a sliver of towering snowcap behind us.

“That’s got to be Rainier!” she shouted.

I turned and my jaw dropped as ever so slowly, more and more of the mountain appeared.

“Is that Rainier?” I quizzed two young women watching from their blue pickup truck.

“Yes,” they responded, their eyes gleaming as their heads bobbed up and down.

“Praise Jesus!”

For the next 15 minutes or so, God peeled away the fog and showed us Rainier’s majestic splendor. Then, the clouds rolled back in and it was once more behind a curtain.

Lynda and I couldn’t contain our joy. We kept thanking the Lord for answering our prayers. Wow, what a glorious end to our first vacation leg.

As I’ve thought about this experience, my mind focuses on how sometimes God doesn’t unveil His will. When we don’t see Him, we wonder if He’s active in our lives. But then, He gives us a glimpse of how He was indeed sovereignly working behind the scenes, waiting to disclose His will in His always perfect timing.

I think of Joseph. He shared with his brothers two separate dreams he had had, that seemingly they would bow down to him. They were jealous. Later, when they saw him approaching from afar, they plotted to kill him. At the last minute they relented, choosing instead to sell him to some traveling Ishmaelites and profit from his faked death. Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh’s guard.

Potiphar’s wife tried desperately to entice Joseph to go to bed with her. Joseph steadfastly resisted her overtures, believing this would be sin against a holy God. One day, she tried again, but he refused, this time leaving his cloak in her hand. When Potiphar’s wife falsely accused Joseph of aggressively approaching her, her husband became enraged and threw him into prison. While there, Joseph correctly interpreted the dreams of the king’s cupbearer and baker, but the cupbearer forgot Joseph after the Pharaoh restored him. Joseph would remain forgotten for two more years, until the cupbearer recollected how Joseph had interpreted his dreams and reported this ability to Pharaoh after he himself had suffered troubling dreams. Joseph correctly interpreted those dreams about seven years of great abundance, followed by seven years of withering famine. Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of the whole land of Egypt, rising to second in command.

When Jacob ordered his sons to go to Egypt to purchase food, eventually Joseph revealed his true identity to his brothers. He then told them, “God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance” (Genesis 45:7-8).

While languishing in prison, seemingly forsaken, Joseph probably had serious doubts about God’s presence in his life. Once released, though, God clearly revealed His plan to Joseph. How? I’m not sure. But the evidence is clear. “It was not you who sent me here, but God” (Genesis 45:8).

So, just as Lynda and I couldn’t see Rainier, we knew it was there…by faith. We would have been OK if we had left the park and not witnessed its grandeur, but we were grateful that God gave us a pretty cool peak. His revelation and work are always in accordance to His character and attributes.

God can always be trusted, even when His plans remain obscured, for whatever reason. But when He does allow us to see His handiwork and we get to witness His glorious answers to our prayers, let’s always be thankful for those wonderful glimpses.

And what a story we have to tell when He does!