September 7, 2024
Have you ever been down and blah and you just can’t put your finger on exactly why? Have you ever felt like there was a heavy cloud over you and you just can’t seem to get out from under it? Or maybe you have been stressed because you just felt like you couldn't do enough and give enough to make a difference?
Well, I have (and I hope someone else can identify as well). In fact, in the last few weeks I have felt all these things. Maybe it’s the way things are right now in our world, our personal lives, our professional lives, or a million other things that could contribute to feeling this way.
This past weekend my husband was watering our yard and plants (side note: leave it to us to plant grass and then leave on vacation and come back to a heat wave with zero rain). I was outside with him while he was watering. I was watching him and thinking to myself how “troubled” I was feeling about life in general. I noticed there were places in our yard where the grass just looked as though it was burned. I mentioned it to him, and he concluded it was the horrible heat and we just needed some rain.
We have had a little rain here and there lately but not nearly the good, long, hard rain that we desperately need. Around 8:00 on Sunday night we were leaving our son's house, and I heard the thunder and saw the ominous sky. Soon after, the rain started. It rained torrentially on us the entire way home. Wayne had to drive around 35 miles per hour just so he could continue to see because the rain was so hard.
It was still raining when we arrived at our house and still raining when I went to bed. I looked outside early Monday morning the roads were still wet, so I knew it had rained quite a bit. As I backed out of the driveway to leave for work, I looked at the places in our yard that just the night before had looked so withered and dried out. They looked so much better!
As I drove to work, I noticed the landscape everywhere. It all looked so much brighter and alive. I saw more green in the yards than brown. The rain had refreshed and renewed the dry ground. The flowers looked as though they had some new life in them. All around me, the trees, shrubs, lawns, and flowers glistened and sparkled from the rain.
All of a sudden it was like the Lord said to me, ”Jill, you need the rain.” I don’t know about you, but when I am feeling the heavy weight of my emotional pain it can turn into physical strain. I also know that when I am feeling this way, I tend to neglect my time with the Lord. It’s hard to see the good in anything. I am just going through the motions and getting by. It’s like a little desert season where I can become dry and fruitless, burned up and burned out.
God wants to send the rain for me. He wants me to be refreshed and fruitful. Just as the rain brings needed life to the landscape, God can drench my heart and soul with HIS spirit to enable me to be refreshed, growing, fruitful, and healthy. In Deuteronomy 32:2, it says, “Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants."
I need God’s Word to rain on me, bringing refreshment to my daily life. I need God’s Word to be like the early morning dew, allowing me to see His love showered on a new day. I need God’s Word to rain on me to tenderly wash away my worries and fears. I need God to rain on me to refresh my outlook on life, to renew my spirit, and to wash away the dark cloud that seems to be hovering over me. I need the rain!
I know the answer to dry, burned land is rain just as much as I know the answer to burn out is God. I need the Holy Spirit of God to rain all over me and the only way for me to do that is to allow God to "reign" over my life. Just because I know the answer doesn’t mean it is easy. It takes effort and work on my part. But my God will patiently wait for my heart to be ready to receive HIS rain.
He gently reminds me that my peace, provision, security, and joy are available when I allow Him to "reign" as King over my life. I know we all have those times when we feel troubled and down. I know we all face trials and have problems. My prayer is we all will allow the rain of God to shower our spirits and water our souls. We will allow a good downpour to refresh our souls and return the sparkle to our life. There is a song that I love by Mercy Me and the chorus says:
Bring me joy, bring me peace, bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there'll be days when this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to praise You, Jesus, bring the rain
I will praise Him even in the rain!
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Jill Johnson, a staff member at the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, finds spiritual applications in her everyday experiences as a wife, mother, grandmother and Georgian. She is available to speak to your church's women's gatherings. Reach her at jjohnson@gabaptist.org.
