Watering the Soul on a Rainy Day

This morning I’m listening to a rain storm as I write. It’s the kind of rain storm that comes in waves. One minute its a steady, soaking rain. The next minute it’s a down pour. At times is seems as though it will stop and then it begins again. We need this rain for our lakes and somehow my heart needs the calm that the sound of the rain is ushering in. Even the claps of thunder add to the calming effects of the storm.

When I was a child, I was not fond of those claps of thunder. In my little mind, I was certain there was a big crane lifting houses off their foundations and throwing them to the ground. I would lay awake in bed just waiting for our house to be next. At some point that changed and I imagined God was bowling. At least that kept me from imagining the worst scenario.

What will happen to all this rain? Where will it go? Are we going to have one of those rainy seasons or is this the last good rain before a long, dry, hot summer? Will we enjoy the way the rain slows us down, or wish it away so we can get back to our hurried lives? Do we take advantage of the sunny days and get out and play or just grumble when we can’t? What does God want to say to me in this rain? 

I’ve begun a journey to recognize the Presence of God in and around me. I’ve begun a journey to seek His face in all circumstances. I’ve asked Him to tune me in to Him. To be honest, I’d rather get lost in Him than some of the other places I find myself getting lost.

Just look at this illustrations of one of the places I find myself getting lost.

(Image borrowed from the Purple Clover Facebook page)

I have to tell you that while this illustration makes me laugh, it also makes me tired. Can you imagine trying to sort thru that all day, every day? There is not a spreadsheet or white board on earth that could adequately deal with all the thoughts and sub-thoughts and rabbit trails that go off with lightening speed inside this brain of mine. If I am not careful, it is all I can do in a day.

See…rabbit trail!

Maybe I’ll just sit here and enjoy the sound of the rain and see what I can find in His word that resonates with this season.

A father of the fatherless and a judge ^[f]for the widows,
Is God in His holy habitation.
⁶ God ^[g]makes a home for the lonely;
He leads out the prisoners into prosperity,
Only the rebellious dwell in a parched land.

⁷ O God, when You went forth before Your people,
When You marched through the wilderness, ^[h]Selah.
⁸ The earth quaked;
The heavens also dropped rain at the presence of God;
^[i]Sinai itself quaked at the presence of God, the God of Israel.
⁹ You shed abroad a plentiful rain, O God;
You confirmed Your inheritance when it was ^[j]parched.
¹⁰ Your creatures settled in it;
You provided in Your goodness for the poor, O God. – Psalm 68:5-10

^6 [j]May he come down like rain upon the mown grass,
Like showers that water the earth. – Psalm 72:6

⁵ How blessed is the man whose strength is in You,
In ^[c]whose heart are the highways to Zion!
⁶ Passing through the valley of ^[d]Baca they make it a ^[e]spring;
The early rain also covers it with blessings.
⁷ They go from strength to strength,
^[f]Every one of them appears before God in Zion. – Psalm 84:5-7

¹⁵ In the light of a king’s face is life,
And his favor is like a cloud with the ^[h]spring rain. – Proverbs 16:15

⁶ Seek the Lord while He may be found;
Call upon Him while He is near.
⁷ Let the wicked forsake his way
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
And let him return to the Lord,
And He will have compassion on him,
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon.
⁸ “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
⁹ “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.
¹⁰ “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
And do not return there without watering the earth
And making it bear and sprout,
And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
¹¹ So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;
It will not return to Me empty,
Without accomplishing what I desire,
And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.
¹² “For you will go out with joy
And be led forth with peace;
The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you,
And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
¹³ “Instead of the thorn bush the cypress will come up,
And instead of the nettle the myrtle will come up,
And ^[e]it will be a ^[f]memorial to the Lord,
For an everlasting sign which will not be cut off.” – Isaiah 55:6-13

AHHHH, refreshing rain!

Thankful Thursday: He is still the same…expect it!

Apparently God wants me to stay in these thoughts about how I see things…

I’ve been doing a study by Bill Johnson titled Hosting the Presence.  This book and study has been everything I thought it would be including incredible.  It has helped me to see some things about life in the Kingdom from a totally new perspective.  It has increased an anticipation of just how close we can be to the God who set this whole thing in motion and then didn’t leave us.  I know not everyone believes that.  I know there are many people who believe He set it up and then left us to fend for ourselves.  I’ve lived parts of my life that way.  There are days I slip into that way of thinking and try to do this life on my own.  Heck, sometimes those days slip into weeks and months…and…

I think they call that being double minded….

If you had asked me if I believed that way I would have given you a resounding no.  I think many of us would.  But then I decided to take a really close look at the way I do life.  I started looking at the fruit of my life.  I started thinking about what I default to when things begin to heat up around me.  I started listening to the thoughts that run thru my head when there is something in front of me that needs to be accomplished.  I’d love to say that He is the first one I go to in every circumstance.  I’d love to say He is the one that directs ALL my steps.

It is one thing to say your life is in God’s hands.  It is one thing to say you allow your life to be directed by the Holy Spirit.  It is one thing to say you have given your whole heart to Jesus.  And then the rubber meets the road…

I may have never known the difference if God hadn’t reached down into my life to show me.  I may never have known there was more to the Christian life I was living if He hadn’t reached down and ordered the steps of others in my life who showed me there was more to this life than a few good Christian phrases and declarations.  I may have never known if others had not been living their lives sold out to a life with a God who is closer than your breath.

Seriously…have you ever really thought about the omnipresence of God and what that REALLY means.  Present EVERYWHERE…at the SAME time!  That means right now He is sitting here with me as I type this.  He is sitting there with you as you read it.  He is with me when I’m having a really good day and when I’m having a really bad one.  He is in the praises of His people and there in the darkest places on the planet.  He is in Heaven and hanging out down here on earth with you and me.  Yes, that could blow a mind if you REALLY think about it.

You know the God who manifested himself in the burning bush, thru the mouth of the donkey and on the mountain top in the Old Testament?  You know the Son who came to heal, deliver and set free?  You know the Holy Spirit who was given to guide, comfort, empower and seal us until the Son returns?  They never change!!!  They are still involved!  They are still doing the same things they have always done and always will do.  Let that sink in.

My last post was about a change in the way I am able to see things…physically and spiritually…and soon after that I received an unrelated email from a friend that included this scripture:

¹⁶ Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. ¹⁸ So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. – 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NIV)

There IS an unseen realm all around us.  We can see glimpses of it if we will just press in to Him.  He has invited us to that.  The great men of faith in the bible knew it was possible.  They expected it!

What do you expect to see?  What do you expect God to do in your life?  What kind of relationship do you expect to have with Him?

“What you expect can ruin what you receive.” – Kerrie Oles

Lord, forgive me for living on the edge of what you have for me.  Forgive me for living on the edge of who you are.  Forgive me for believing you are distant.  Thank you for not allowing me to stay there.  Thank you for inviting me into a greater revelation of who you are and WHERE you are.  Please continue to reveal yourself to me in ways that will blow my mind.

What if curiosity didn’t kill the cat?

I have a friend who loves to spend time with God praying about all kinds of stuff and for all her friends and family.  She is truly what I would call an intercessor and I am happy to have her in my corner.  This past week I got a message in my in box from her after she had been praying for me.  She had these words for me that had been placed on her heart to share…”Follow the path that sparks curiosity and wonder in your heart. If you get that from a thing, ponder it deeper. If not, don’t give it too much of your mental energy.”  I’ll take that bit of encouragement during a season in life where I find I’m sifting thru many new things and possibilities.  I’ll take that to heart as I look at the stack of books in my corner and on my Kindle and wonder what to read next.  I’ll take that as I am finding myself nearing a crossroad wondering which path to take.  I know that crossroad is just ahead on the journey.  I don’t know for sure how far ahead, but I sense it coming.

Today I started on a journey that does spark curiosity and wonder in my heart.  It sparks it in a way it would not have not that very long ago.  I found a community on Facebook that is committing to reading the book of Romans each day during the month of June.  That is right, the entire book of Romans each day.  That is 30 times in one month.  I’ve heard of people committing themselves to specific books of the bible for a year or some other plan for being in His word on a regular basis.  I once listened to a series of messages by a favorite preacher who had spent a relatively long season in the book of Ephesians.  It was a really good series no doubt inspired by soaking in that book for so long.  I have a friend who is a preacher who committed to reading only God’s word one year.  I think by July he said he had already read it 6 or 7 times.  I’ve been working on a 90 days thru the Bible reading plan for over a year and have yet to get out of the Old Testament.

When this community came across my news feed, it sparked something inside of me that wanted to give it a try.  At one point in my life it might have been so that I could mark it off as a challenge completed.  During this season of my life it is very much about a curiosity of what God is up to.  I want to see what the Holy Spirit will highlight in this book over the course of a month spent soaking in it.  I want to see how He will use it each day to mold and shape me and my understanding of who He is for me.  I want to see what kind of impact spending that kind of focused time on one book of the bible will have.  I’m in a place on my journey where I want to hear from Him personally for myself.  Seems like a really good time for a challenge like this.

I’ve decided to log my observations and some of the things that God is highlighting for me over the next 30 days here in my blog.  I want to have a place to go back to at the end of the month and see what He has been up to.  I want a place to go back to a year from now and see how this kind of time prepared me for the next season or strengthened me in an ongoing one.  I hope you won’t get too bored with Romans while I camp out here for a while.  One of my favorite verses when I was a teenager is in this book…Romans 8:28…And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.  I’m looking forward to seeing what other riches God has in here for me during this season of my life.  I’m also looking forward to seeing how He will highlight different things out of the same reading for each day along the way.

So…here we go!

Day 1 – HOPE

It’s funny…hope has been on my mind for a few weeks.  Do you ever feel silly when you hope for things?  Do you ever wonder if your hoping is seen as a little too optimistic?  Do you ever wonder if others think you are foolish if you hope for something that seems impossible?  Do you have hopes and dreams that you are afraid to share because…well…you aren’t sure they will come to pass even though you hope they will?  Do your hopes ever feel like a pipe dream?  Well…maybe you don’t have a pessimistic bone in your body and you are certain all your hopes and dreams will come true.  Maybe you have so much faith and trust in God that you have placed every last ounce of hope in Him and live in total peace.  I’m not there yet.  I want to be there!!  I seek out signs of hope.  I look for it in circumstances…most of the time.

Last night I was having a conversation with a friend about some things on my mind that were a little heavy.  She encouraged me to ask God for an increased measure of joy in my circumstances and on my journey.  I did that and quickly went on to pondering and reading and Face booking and all those other excellent uses of my time.  😉

Then this morning I began the Romans journey…and found a little joy…in the form of HOPE.

24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. – Romans 8:24-25

5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. – Romans 5:5

I highlighted other scriptures during my time this morning, but these two have stuck with me ALL day!  I can hold out HOPE for what He has promised me without once ounce of shame or fear of what I can’t see in my future.  If He has promised it to me in His word, it is true and I can hope for it to come to pass whether I can see it right now or not.  I can believe Him to fulfill his word and His promises and I don’t have to be able to prove a thing to Him or myself or anyone else.  How do you prove a thing you can’t see?  Good news is you don’t have to.  THAT makes me smile!  That gives me HOPE!  🙂

See you tomorrow with a little spark in my eyes…