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.
Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water... those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” (John 4:10, 14 NLT)
“I will bless my people and their homes around my holy hill. And in the proper season I will send the showers they need. There will be showers of blessing. The orchards and fields of my people will yield bumper crops, and everyone will live in safety. When I have broken their chains of slavery and rescued them from those who enslaved them, then they will know that I am the Lord." (Ezekiel 34:26, 27 NLT)
And it dawns on me that there are different kinds of "chains of slavery". We don't have to be physically captive to be in chains. Some times God can't give us the miracle we are so desperately searching for, because we won't let Him. Because we harden our hearts to Him.
But God says: “I am bringing you back, but not because you deserve it. I am doing it to protect my holy name... And when I reveal my holiness through you before their very eyes, says the Sovereign Lord, then the nations will know that I am the Lord. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations." (Ezekiel 36:22, 23, 26, 27 NLT)
Taken back to a passage that I've read a while ago in Lamentations, I remember how I had been dumbstruck in reading Jeremiah's account of how he had felt during an especially challenging time in his life. Exactly like I did. To the letter. At the time I was feeling guilty for feeling this way. But even Jeremiah had felt like this at times! It is only human.
But then the prophet goes on to say: "Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!” The Lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him. So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord." (Lamentations 3:21-26 NLT)
His mercies begin afresh each morning... Without really having known the context, this has been a verse that I have been holding onto all year. What a graceful God we serve! He gives us a new beginning each and every day. If we didn't have the right attitude yesterday, we have a fresh chance today. A new start.
Jeremiah says: "Pour out your hearts like water to the Lord. Lift up your hands to him in prayer..." (Lamentations 2:19 NLT)
