The rains finally came Wednesday night into Thursday…it was such a blessing to see, to feel that rain pitter patter against my body and to walk barefoot in the puddles. We had been waiting so long…the crops were so starving for nourishment…most of the grass brown and brittle…the earth hard and cracked. A number of times over the past weeks rain would be in the forecast but it never came. I prayed that the Lord would sustain the crops until the rains came. It was a glimpse of drought. I've thought of some of the Bible stories I know where there was drought and famine in the land…seven years of famine or drought…I couldn't imagine.
I realize how blessed and yet dependent I am on God…the creator and sustainer of all.
My husband and I went out to a corn field, I wanted to take some pictures of me and the rain soaked corn and the wet earth. Me giving praise to our God for His provision and yet it didn't work out. I was kinda cranky and couldn't just "be" with my husband…why does freedom of giving my heart and vulnerably to him have to be so hard?
It's not how I want to live my life with him. What am I scared of?
Why are the precious and vulnerable things so hard to give, so hard to let him see…why does it have to be my constant struggle?
Why is it so hard to let him see me cry?
Why can't I just rest in his arms, in his protection when I'm feeling weak and weary?
Why do I insist on doing life on my own?
Life is precious…its here today and gone tomorrow...time goes by so quickly. I am blessed tremendously. I have already been given so many days upon this earth…so many days with those I love.
Yet despite the blessings…I still struggle. I struggle within myself to find contentment…rest eludes me. Yet I know that God has created me for a purpose, something just for me, something only I can fill and I know on those days of "sunshine" I have been in the midst of those purposes. Yet still how many times do I look at what others do, the place that others have and feel I don't measure up and that I have nothing to offer. I know it's stupid to think and feel such things but it's true it's there, at times gone but just around the corner of my heart…lingering ready to come out in my moments of weakness and doubt. My hearts desire is to live life fully for my King, my God, my Father, my Saviour…the one who loves me with a love I can never fully understand.
Yet I get caught up in insecurities, in doubt, in negative thoughts, in fear of failure and ultimately fear of giving my heart fully. What if I could be content in who I am…in who God has created me to be. I'm not looking for that worldly happy contentment. I think it's more a security of who I am in Christ of living fully in that place. Not always looking over my shoulder, thinking someone else can do it better, be more talented, more beautiful, more everything. I despise that insecurity that is within me but I know I am my own worst enemy. Where does this comparing myself with others come from? If God truly has a place and a plan for each of His children then there is no need for me or anyone of us to be insecure. Why do I let my fears have their way, why do I let satan pick away at me using my own weaknesses to tear me down and rend me powerless.
I have been chosen by God…CHOSEN…do I know the depth of that. Before I even came into being He knew me, He had his eye on me…Oh Lord help me understand the depth of that belonging…that knowing...that choosing.
And so I find myself at times as though I am living in a drought, actually more like choosing to live in a drought or not quite knowing ones way out of it. Why would anyone choose to live in a drought when they could be replenished, filled and living life abundantly? I think sometimes the dryness of the drought is easier to handle then the awkwardness, pain and discomfort of learning how to live an abundant life. If drought is all you're used to, it takes work to change and live differently. To be vulnerable when all you've ever done is hidden your vulnerability would be huge. But unless I open up and you open up and let those showers of abundance that God offers flow into the dry and hard recesses of our hearts we will continue to live in a drought of the heart and those around us will miss out and ultimately you and I will miss out on the life that God has for us.
And so I know all this struggle within me is a way out…all part of the journey…part of transformation and the realization and understanding of His amazing GRACE…for better is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere...
I struggle with all the things you talked about here, despite knowing in my head how much God loves me, even knowing in my heart, yet still FEELING I don't deserve love or help or anything. At my lowest, I can usually blame my stupid hormones. But we also need to remember that earth is not our home, that we were probably never meant to feel at perfect peace at all times. Remember too that feelings are not always dependable. I dunno....I'm rambling now.
ReplyDeleteAnyway! Cool photos. I enjoyed the story they tell. I hope you feel better soon.
You are the consummate pictorial narrator!
ReplyDeleteI read this post yesterday, coiled up inside and feeling so many of the things you describe. It's such a frustrated, lonely feeling, isn't it, knowing you want to be seen and reached, but knowing that what keeps you hidden IS you.
ReplyDeleteAnd I love your statement of grace. I think sometimes that I treat myself worse than anyone else ever could—all over wanting to give myself space to be gentle!
But as you say, I believe that God also knows that I am "in" there, stuck.
And if the rain all came too fast, it'd just wash away.
During this drought, I've often stood, watering my flowers with buckets from the river, and had to do it twice—the first time, the soil is too cracked and barren, and the water runs right out of the basket. So I water slowly, with another bucket underneath, catching the spillage.
And then I water again and again until the basket holds what the plant needs.
My hope, my belief, is that God will do the same for me in the dry places—water slowly, patiently, until I have what I need.
Thanks again for sharing.
xoxj
(Yes, I'm writing you during church. And now I've got so many thoughts, I'm going to write some on my own blog). xoxj
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