Rain

Living in the Northwest, I know that the rain we get throughout the year is what makes the incredible lush, green beauty I love, possible. Still, there are times in the downpours, or even in the drizzling, when the water falling from the sky is just too much! Especially so when there hasn't been much of a summer--when the sun has hardly poked through.


And so it has been in my life...Sometimes the rain comes pelting down so relentlessly that I don't even want to turn on the windshield wipers, so to speak. Sometimes I don't even want to get out the kleenex. I just can't see at all and attempts to uncloud my view, even a little, seem futile. I cry out, "I can't handle this rain anymore! I need the forecast to change!" But the water keeps falling--pittering, pattering, pounding, and splashing in a ceaseless rhythm.


It's a hard place to be! Have you ever been there? Perhaps you are drenched right now too. It's a helpless feeling! Questions resound--"When will my life, when will I, ever not be such a dripping mess?!" God sent a rainbow as a promise to the world that it would never be entirely covered in a flood. Does that promise stand for my heart too? The waters are sure rising high. I feel like I am drowning with no energy left to swim and no shore in sight to head towards. Was there a boat somewhere that I missed?

Well meaning friends or family try to offer a sunny weather forecast with the words "It will get better. We're praying and soon things will change." But what if things aren't getting better any time soon? What if things don't change and the rain keeps coming down? What if there's nothing you or them can do to shut the rain off?


People want to hear that things are going good in your life. They don't want to hear that it's still raining, or that you aren't singing and dancing in the rain or trying to splash in mud puddles. So eventually, one begins to pull back from people entirely. When the weather doesn't change people prefer for you to speak as if it has and to talk of sunshine. That is why I've put off and hesitated to write and send this blog. But I know that there is someone, somewhere out there who has been enduring Washington weather for a long time too. For that one person I bear my soul, my heart, and my struggles with the rain. May you, whoever you are, know that you are not alone. I will be real with you, and you can be real with me.


Here is the one, the only umbrella I am hovering under. Let me share it with you. It is an umbrella of words that I believe God spoke to my heart amidst an incredibly harsh, fierce, downpour when I felt like I was drowning:


"Give Me your fears. It is My job to see to your safety and your needs. Do you hear Me? IT IS MY JOB. DO NOT TAKE THIS WEIGHT, THIS REPONSIBILITY ON YOUR SHOULDERS. Admit that you don't know what you need. I know you are terrified. I know you are exhausted and broken. I know you don't have a clue where to go from here. But please trust Me and put your hand in Mine, even when you are stepping forward into darkness. I promise you that I won't let you fall and that there will be arms to catch you.

I don't want you to have a game plan. I don't want you to have everything all figured out. I don't want you to protect and take care of yourself. If you will just rest, I, your Father and Best Friend, want to and will do all of these things for you. Again, give Me your fears and I will bring My plans to you."

What beautiful words! I'm still in the process of and praying for God to help me believe them--praying that He will help me trust that He will watch out for me and carry me, even when it doesn't feel like it.

If your own heart is breaking, if you are wrestling with confusion, if thunder showers of taxing circumstances are hovering over you, cry out with me to God. Plead with me that we will sense the comfort of His umbrella over us, that we will feel His presence all around us, and that His words will sink into the depths of our hearts in a way that floods us with utter and complete peace. I also invite you to join me in claiming His promise--In John 10:10 He states, "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."

Dear Father, our Healer and Lifegiver, we plead for the abundant life You have promised, not just in heaven but also during our time here on earth. "Abundant"--a word by dictionary synonymous with plentiful, overflowing, and rich. Father, may our quality of life, may our joy not be shrinking or nearly gone. Please manifest Your power on our behalf and fill our lives with passion, zest, and vivaciousness. And may this abundant, overflowing life You've promised, serve as a gripping witness to the world around us, of Your love and power! Father, while we live in this world the rain will continue to come down. But please open our eyes to sparkling emeralds that You are creating in the midst of it all. Thank-You! Amen.