“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” 
Psalm 51:10

As a southern California native, we’ve grown accustomed to living in a drought, a dry land. There was even a popular song in the 90’s called “It Never Rains in Southern California”.  After many years of drought, this past season alone California finally received enough rain to nearly get us out of the drought and help with our water shortage. We need rain as it is such an essential and irreplaceable element to the continuance of life.

Have you ever felt like you were in a place in your life where nothing seemed to be growing or flourishing? Where you feel spiritually dry? A place where your soul thirst and aches for more.  It may be that every door seems to shut, relationships are broken, or health is failing. Maybe your passion and vision are clouded and God seems – well silent.

There is a saying, if you want to see a rainbow you have to put up with the rain. This is definitely not something we want to hear when we are in the midst of what feels like a drought or storm. We want the promise. We want the victory. We want the blessings. But we do not want the process that comes with it.  The reality is, it takes both sunshine and rain to create a rainbow. As it sometimes takes seasons of victory and seasons of pain to experience growth.

If you think about it there is something so sad yet so beautiful about the rain. The skies are darkened, the clouds loom, the wind shifts and then the rain comes. During this time, the simplest tasks take on extra challenges. The same can be said when we are in a season of what feels like  a spiritual drought. Normal tasks weigh our hearts, body and mind down. What should be simple becomes much more challenging. We dread the drought and we dread the looming storm.  But once the rain passes something new happens. The sky clears, the air becomes fresh and beautiful stillness fills the air. Looking around we can see what was once desolate and dry is now flourishing with new greenery and life. A rainbow hangs in the horizon and it is such a beautiful sight to see. The drought and rain are a distant memory and now we can enjoy the benefits and bask in promises of God.

As we look back, we can see that some of the most challenging and hard moments of life were incredible moments of growth. At the time, it felt like chaos. And endless desert wasteland or a storm that wouldn’t pass. Tears that wouldn’t stop. Rain, rain and more rain. We didn’t realize that God was cleansing us from the inside out. He was getting us ready for new challenges. He was working on areas where we needed growth. He was preparing us for the promise.

So today we say, let it rain. We look at the dry land and embrace the rain. We remember although seasons change, God’s love always remains the same.  In the drought and through the storm we will choose to remain hopeful and faithful.  At any moment we can reach out and ask God to do something new in our lives and He will. We can pray our eyes will see the  drought and storm from a different perspective. We can pray for strength to endure the season, to learn, to grow and flourish from it. And just as the rain renews the land, God’s spirit will renew our life.

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed and the new has come.”
2 Corinthians 5:17

Always,
Tisha and Misty