The girls and I are spending our summer on the go in spite of really hot temperatures and drought conditions. I’ve been to the zoo more in the last week than in the last two years and we’ve been to the rec. center to exercise (me) and to the pool (them). Thus far our summer hasn’t been boring.

Yesterday after we got home from the pool I looked outside to see rain clouds coming our way. Then I heard thunder for probably an hour or so. I expected rain and couldn’t wait for it to start dropping on us. I went outside at one point and I could even smell it. The rain was so close but the clouds never relented and released the rain- to us at least.

It made me think about our life and things that are happening here now and promises that God has made to us. There are times when those promises seem so close it’s as if I can hear them, see them, and smell them but it’s like the rain that the clouds stubbornly refused to release. I was disappointed yesterday because our grass is dry and crispy and my garden, though I water it, is in need of a deep soaking that only a good rain can provide.

The thing is though, I know it will rain again someday. I don’t know when that day will be but it will rain, otherwise middle Tennessee will turn into a barren desert wasteland. Everything I know about middle Tennessee tells me that it won’t turn into a barren desert wasteland. And everything that I know about God tells me that His promises are always true. I may forget His promises to me but He never does.

So this morning as I read the Word and prayed I asked, “What is my part in this? What am I responsible for?” I can’t bring the promise to pass but I can search my heart and ask if I have the right attitude. I can ask for strength and grace to walk out things that are difficult until He chooses to bring those promises to pass. I can take my eyes off the promise, which in itself can be distracting, and choose to put my focus on Him.

I’ve let it happen many times that I’ve gotten so distracted with the promise being fulfilled-because I have a very real need-that I become sad, disillusioned and depressed. That is not His plan for me. His promise should give me hope that He sees me, He knows me- even better than I do, he has a purpose and that my current circumstances will not last forever.

I pray today that the rain you’re waiting for will come and I pray for grace and strength for you until it does.

“The grass withers and the flowers fall,

but the word of our God stands forever.” Isaiah 40:8

Blessings,

Amy