The gravel farm roads are starting to resemble a riverbank. Streams of water running along its banks. Joining together in countless murky pools and puddles. Greedily snatching at sand, gravel, small pebbles and branches - carrying it along its course. Digging away at the surface. Eroding the exposed earth.
Rain clouds are gathering. Full in expectation of its release. Bursting. The skies are dark and heavy with water. Fat drops drizzling from above. Slowly at first. Growing in its urgency. Gathering momentum, strengthening the assault... Finally, drenching the scene.
As I am walking along, taking all of this in - I think about a devotion I've read in this little book Come Away My Beloved by Frances Roberts, called "Rain". And I recall thinking that it is all about perspective. Winters and rain do not have to be a thing of hardship and suffering. It could be about blessings and abundance! About God's joy and provision.
As I am walking along, taking all of this in - I think about a devotion I've read in this little book Come Away My Beloved by Frances Roberts, called "Rain". And I recall thinking that it is all about perspective. Winters and rain do not have to be a thing of hardship and suffering. It could be about blessings and abundance! About God's joy and provision.
The devotion starts with an urging to go and look "for the rain is coming" - proclaiming that the drought is over and the sound of rain is approaching. It says: "Yes, I will send showers of blessing upon the hearts of my waiting people; for before they call, I have prepared an answer, and while they are seeking Me, I shall come down upon them."
God's Spirit is the Rain. He comes to revive and refresh. He comes to bring relief to the parched ground. To bring forth new life. To bring flowers to the desert.
Joel 2:23 NLT says: "Rejoice in the Lord your God! For the rain he sends demonstrates his faithfulness."
I haven't written here for a while. Partly because I have been really busy at work. Partly because I am at a place where I don't really know what to write anymore... Exhausted from repeated disappointments - taking everything out of me. Sucking me dry. The storm raging in my mind.
It is hard to come back from a place like that. Especially if it starts to consume your life. Overshadowing all else. As the Casting Crowns song so beautifully claims (all you can do, is to) Come to the Well.
I seem to find songs that, for some reason, I latch onto and then for a period of time, repeatedly listen to. Until I begin to hear the layers of meaning underneath the words. Until it sinks in and becomes my own. This is my current song. And it so beautifully relays the story of the Samaritan woman at the well in John, describing Jesus as the Living Water.
Joel 2:23 NLT says: "Rejoice in the Lord your God! For the rain he sends demonstrates his faithfulness."
I haven't written here for a while. Partly because I have been really busy at work. Partly because I am at a place where I don't really know what to write anymore... Exhausted from repeated disappointments - taking everything out of me. Sucking me dry. The storm raging in my mind.
It is hard to come back from a place like that. Especially if it starts to consume your life. Overshadowing all else. As the Casting Crowns song so beautifully claims (all you can do, is to) Come to the Well.
I seem to find songs that, for some reason, I latch onto and then for a period of time, repeatedly listen to. Until I begin to hear the layers of meaning underneath the words. Until it sinks in and becomes my own. This is my current song. And it so beautifully relays the story of the Samaritan woman at the well in John, describing Jesus as the Living Water.
