Relief through the Rain

Relief through the Rain

 

Romans 12:12

Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer

I love the spring, especially, when it’s time to get my trusted tiler out and begin to tear up the land to make way for vegetables to start new life. I love the feel of the dirt on my feet and the sweat that runs from my face. It is the one time that my muscles are sore, that I truly understand those that live for exercise and love the pain it causes the next day. I have learned, in the years that I have gardened, that just watering it is not enough, a good crop needs water from the Heavens. A nice, slow, steady rain. I look forward to those dark clouds rolling in after a long hot day. Clouds, normally, mean rain and relief from the heat.

After I tiled the garden recently, I watched as storm clouds began to roll in and thought this is great and just what I need. I had spent hours tiling my garden that morning, breaking up the soil around the plants and taking the weeds out. After a good tiling, the garden soaks up rain and new growth is seen quickly.  As I watched the sunlight start to break up those clouds and the darkness grow farther away from my home and my garden, I prayed God, send the storm, please, send the rain. It struck me, almost immediately, that in life we probably never ask God to send the Storm? We pray that He help us through life’s storms, we pray He remove it, and we even pray that He teach us the lesson we need to learn from this storm, so it can be over quickly.

Proverbs 3: 5-6

Trust in the Lord with wall your heart, and do not rely on your own understand;

Think about Him in all your ways, and He will guide you on the right paths.

Send the storm God?  When life is good and all of our cares are taken care of, why would we ever ask for or need a storm? Life is so much better when there are no storms, isn’t it? What happens when you are faced with a situation where you have to make a decision that will bring the storm? Maybe you didn’t ask for it, but you know that if you choose to bring this to light or have that difficult conversation; the storm will come. As a parent, there have been, so many times, that I uncovered or was told about something my child was doing and I had two choices. One, I could pretend I did not know or two, I could confront it. Confrontation would lead to a storm in the house for a while, anyone with children has had to make that tough decision. While children are young, the storm only last a few minutes or until nap time is over, but with teen-agers or young adults, the storms can result in life changes; some you may not be ready for.

 I can remember going downstairs one morning and smelling a familiar odor, I debated on questioning the scent, because honestly, I just didn’t want to know.  I was told it was the Oreo cookies my son and his friend had been eating the night before, I, thankfully and foolishly, accepted that excuse, grateful for another conversation, I would not have to face that day.  I regret that decision and pray none of you make the same choice. Don’t believe the Oreo lie! J 

It wasn’t until our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, died on the cross, that we were redeemed. If He had not endured the storm of the cross, we would not have eternal life. The Creator of the world could have walked this earth as a King and been waited on hand and foot. He could have chosen to be born of noble birth and had a life of luxury. He could have been rescued from the cross by 10,000 angels, whom I am sure watched as the son of God was murdered, waiting for the command. Jesus choose the storm. He was born knowing the only solution was the storm, He created the world and all of us, knowing it would lead to the storm.

^{1 Peter 1:6-7}

You rejoice in this, though now for a short time you have had to struggle in various trials so that the genuineness of your faith—more valuable than gold,

Which perishes though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

What happens when we don’t have a storm? Last year was one of the hottest years I can remember since I have been gardening. Not only, was it 100 degrees from May until August, but it did not rain for weeks and weeks. It was so hot, that when the temperatures finally started to dip into the low 90’s, I felt chilled at night. I watered my garden every night but by noon, the next day, you couldn’t tell it had been watered. The ground was hard and cracked, the plants did not grow as tall as they normally do and I got less squash, zucchini, and cucumbers than I had in years past.  For some reason, my tomatoes took off, but I had a new enemy; Japanese beetles began to swarm the plants, not to eat the leaves, but to suck the juice out of the tomatoes. We finally did begin to get some rain, but the long hot, rainless summer took its toll. When I harvested my sweet potatoes that Fall, I had less than the year before, even though I had planted more and I also lost two mounds to hungry fire ants.

I did not do anything different last year with my garden than I have, as a matter of fact, I probably worked harder in the garden than in years past. I went out after 8, most nights and hoed the dirt around the plants to keep the soil loose, I watered every night, and I fought to keep bugs away. The garden was properly fertilized, but it was missing the storm. It is through the storm that my garden receives the rain it needs to grow, the strength to stand during heavy winds, and the nutrients to produce fruit. Sound familiar? The unsettling lesson in this is that we, like a garden, need the storms of life to make us strong. The ultimate storm was our Savior, enduring unimaginable pain and humiliation to die on a cross, so that we, who believe, have eternal life.

John 16:33

I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace.

You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.

The lesson I learned from my garden, last year, is that without consistent storms, the garden was unprepared for the enemies that attacked. Fire ants are not new to the garden, but due to the long periods of no rain, they were able to set up camp under the soil and cause the fruit to rot, a new enemy came after the fruit of tomatoes and destroyed several, before I was able to figure out how to stop them and, when the storms did roll in, the plants were not strong enough to with stand. Several drown, fell over, or the fruit it produced was hard or rotten from within. ‘

Father, I praise you for the storms that refine me, strengthen me, and prepare me for your ministry. I praise you for seeing me through the battle and coming out stronger than I was going in. I pray for the readers understanding, that while we don’t need to pray you bring us a storm, that when we are faced with confronting a situation, or letting it go for fear of opposition, that we do what is right. We trust you fully, to see us through. Amen.