And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
– James 5:18
This summer has lain heavy on my soul.
As the hills surrounding my valley turned dry and brown in the daily heat, so I have withered under an unrelenting spiritual oppression.
I read my Bible, prayed desperate prayers, watered my flowers, and waited for relief. My husband and I took turns setting sprinklers. We clung to God’s Word the way men in the desert clutch their water canteen.
We managed to keep most of the plants alive, but they looked tired and burned around the edges.
Just like I felt.
Last week, the weather broke. The wind blew in a front, bringing with it two days of refreshing rain. The ground soaked it up. The grass that had struggled under our watering suddenly sprung to vibrant life with that one good rain from heaven. Even flowers long past their bloom lifted their heads to savor God’s goodness.
Perhaps coincidently, one of the worst trials I’ve ever known began to find resolution as the Holy Spirit brought in winds of renewal.
Again, I’m in awe of the abundance of grace with which God restores His creation.
He has washed my eyes to see His tenderness, His beauty, His love for us. He has answered my deepest lament with a comfort too precious for words, too powerful to comprehend.
I lift my head to savor God’s goodness. Like the grass, the human heart has shallow roots and fades quickly in the dry season. But those shallow roots also are the first to taste the rain.
The God who made the grass reminds me of this:
Our days on earth are like grass;
like wildflowers, we bloom and die.
The wind blows, and we are gone—
as though we had never been here.
– Psalm 103:15-16 (NLT)
That alone is enough for Him to move heaven and hell to protect, restore, keep, and revive us. We are like grass and the flowers of the field in our physical limitations, but we are eternal and destined for another world, one in which He will wipe the tears from our eyes and welcome us in joy.
Until then, He sends the rain.