Rain. Finally. This summer, there has been a longing for rain. We've been waiting and it's been so hot and dry in the mean time. We've been in a dry time and it seems like the vegetation has taken a hit as we wonder at how the crops will produce with so little water this year.
Me too. I've needed rain. I've needed God to be rain in my dry little heart and I've been wondering at how the things God has planted in my heart would produce a harvest as there has been so little to water them. Things planted last summer at camp, last year at school.. so many seeds on such dry ground.
I've been in a dry season for a while. I don't think I can pin an exact date on it or anything.. but I was for sure dry last summer at camp and I don't remember much recovering over the months. I've had my times of "rain" since then.. but the ground was so dry that it was absorbed quickly and would thirst again. I came into this summer dry. Exhausted. Empty. I knew that I would be taking on a roll of pouring out and I worried some, but I knew the Lord would supply me with what I needed. I was dry, but I had some faith.
What I couldn't have imagined was that I was about to enter into an oasis in my desert. It's been raining all summer for me and this is my moment. I think as Christians, we all long for the moments when we feel God close and we know He is there and we have an incomprehensible joy. As I feel I've been building up to this moment for a while, my heart is just exploding with joy and I am refreshed.
This whole summer, while I've been pouring into my work with the Bridge, God has poured back
10 fold on me. As I've been pouring out what little I had to start with, i've also been finding other things in my heart that could be removed to make room for more of God so that I could pour out more. Does that make sense? It like when you need to water your plants and you find a dirty old bucket and you're like, "this will work" and so you fill it up and dump it on your plants and as you pour the stuff on the bucket, the dirt at the bottom comes out too but it doesn't hurt the plants any because they're just sucking up the water. And then you have a clean bucket because all the yucky stuff came out with the good stuff and then every time you fill up the bucket after it.. the water is clear and delightful and clean.
I think that is what happened with me this summer. My bucket was cleaned out and I feel new and I joyful and fresh. The more I was used, the purer I became.
Isn't that fun?? I think it's fun. And that's probably why God was so quick to choose the people who had messed up and weren't most clean people out there. He probably looked around at the religious people and said, "Well,my people need some water and those buckets are already clean but I have these dirty buckets that could use some rinsing outing."And with that He plucks up His dirtiest bucket and begins to fill it with water and pour it out so that it is made clean in the process of Him watering His thirsty people.
You can find hope in that. If you've got a dirty bucket, God can use you! And He wants to use you! Depending on what you've got in your bucket, most likely He can use you and clean you at the same time. If you've been putting roundup chemicals in your bucket.. he'll probably want to clean you off a little bit prior to using you on His precious people plants, but He can still use you. And clean you.
I think with this whole idea of having been wandering around in a spiritual desert for the last few months, I think I was coated in sweat and grime and I went through a few sandstorms. It's been SO good swimming in the pools of God's glory and goodness and just washing up and being fresh.
I have so much joy right now. And I know that you can't stay in an oasis forever..sometime soon I shall have to get back on the road again and continue my journey through deserts and storms and rocks and meadows. We go through a lot as Christians... as people. But, it is a blessing to know that when we need it, God gives us rest. He makes streams in the desert and shelters in the sandstorms.
He gives us mountains to climb and when we reach to top, WHEW!! It's a great view! It's a high. And of course, there is no high like the Most High.
No comments:
Post a Comment