After the Rain

Yield to the gardener of your life.

After the rain came the flowers, soft blooms springing from rich earth into warm light. The flowers spread their petals like butterfly wings yielded to the wind.

After the rain came birdsong, a melody amid the parting clouds, the blue sky breaking through the vanishing gray.

After the rain came the trees, the bareness of winter branches replaced by the verdant leaves, a hopeful green. The rain brought fresh covering, color, & life.

After the rain came the sun, a new horizon & a fresh start. New light & restored sight. The joy to embrace another day.

Cold, dark, rainy days often precede new life. Growth, green, flowers, sunlight. This is true throughout God’s creation, in nature & in our own lives. We often see a trial as a punctuation mark, a period to end the hopes & dreams we once had. God sees it as a season. A time of preparation before a rich harvest. A seed lives in the darkness before blooming, drinking in nutrients under the covering of dirt. Can we taste & see that the Lord is good in our dark season? Is the darkness just the shadow of God’s covering, of His rich presence as it nourishes our blooms?

These meditations are not meant to dismiss the deep pain that many have faced, will face, or are currently facing. They are my meager attempts to comfort in the way I have been comforted by the God of all comfort. These words of mine come from a place of healing - I see the blooms that have come forth after the darkness. I can say these things with assurance because of the storms I have faced, not despite them.

God wants to plant His Word in your heart like a seed. Is your heart tender to receive? Is your heart good soil? Are you tending a garden in your life with prayer flowing like rain? Are you getting into God’s Word, your protection like an umbrella on a stormy day? Is your life yielded to the Gardener who prunes so that you may flourish?

Thank you Jesus for my trials because through them you’ve shown yourself to be my deliverer. You have shown me your faithfulness, your goodness, your sovereignty, your grace. You are the author of my story & the gardener of my life.

I thought the rain was a storm but it was your grace descending, your peace transforming, your strength coming down to fill me, your Spirit overflowing.

I yielded to what seemed like rain - the heartbreak, the disappointment, the anger, the depression, a million little raindrops - & you worked everything together as I opened my palm, saw the seeds, allowed you to plant the brokenness, & then watched the flowers bloom. To you be the glory for a life that teems with the fruit planted & sown by you. May I be a garden unto you.

Seek God through your pain. Look for the seeds. Watch for the flowers.

Yield to the gardener of your life.

Are You Listening?

Built on the Rock