Dios manda lluvias

I am listening to raindrops tonight. Finally.
Today it finally has sprinkled, after a long, dusty, 8 months of 'dry season'.
And tonight as we sat around a little circle in block 10, singing to the Lord together, and i watched the drizzle outside and listened to the drops on the tin roof, I couldn't help but remember that it is God who sends the rain.

Tonight it had felt new. It had felt so fresh on my face and arms and sandled feet as we walked down the dusty streets to the church...finally.
And it came to me quickly as we sang, that even these last couple of weeks i have journeyed through a wasteland, a lonely place of discouragement, loneliness and fear that has felt void of fruit and purpose. But tonight something stirred so deep within me as I listened to the rain. Tonight I was sure in that moment, of the God I know, who surely would not waste one opportunity to teach me, if only I would ask that of Him....He loves me so.

I was reminded in that moment as well, of different 'dry seasons' in my life when I sought Him, but heard nothing and felt nothing in return. Times when I opened the Word but nothing stuck with me, when I prayed but my utterances bounced back from the ceiling, when it felt as though God had abandoned His work in me. But looking back on those times once they passed, I could see that God used those wastelands to create in me a hunger for His presence, and His voice...a thirst for a little rain.

The God i am getting to know on this journey, hasn't wasted the 'dry seasons'. He hasn't sat back and let them pass without purpose, and He loves me so much He is willing to take advantage of any circumstance to shape and mold me, that He might receive greater glory through my life.
And then...
...after emptying the storehouses of tears and bringing me to my knees in desperation and need...
...then... He sends rain. It feels new. It feels so right. And such a relief.

Tonight i knew I needed to share with those who sat around our circle about God's desperate love for me, for us - our God who is not willing to waste any circumstance, but use it for our good and His glory. A passage of scripture came to me, but i had no idea where to find it. I searched briefly in the minor prophets, and then thought maybe Isaiah? I opened to Isaiah haphazardly and there it was. Chapter 55.

"As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is My Word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."

Oh God, with great purpose you speak...you send rain.

Tonight rain came to me from heaven; I could feel it as it fell around me, I could even smell it.
Tonight rain came to me from heaven; I could hear the Lord's voice, and He opened His Word for me.
Tonight rain came to me from heaven, and I could see God's hand at work in and through the life of a dear friend...
... a friend to whom this blog entry is dedicated and, because of a little rain, whose fingers are sore tonight.