Falling into the Rain
Thanks for stopping in again, my
blog-readers! For days now, I have been
praying and seeking what the Lord wanted me to share with you in this post, but
every idea I thought up on my own, I just didn’t feel the Lord’s leading in
it. Finally I was praying today when I
felt prompted to share with you the main illustration that the Lord’s given me
as I’ve been writing on my newest novel Outlaw.
When
I first imagined the plot for the book two years ago, there wasn’t much
spiritual depth to it. It was a great
story of redemption, forgiveness, and second chances, but as my walk with the
Lord has deepened, those few elements in their subtle appearances in the story just
weren’t enough to satisfy me.
I was praying for God’s guidance in
my writing of the book, asking Him what exactly He wanted me to write to convey
an edifying message applicable to a wide variety of situations for His glory,
when He inspired me with this image.
Here’s
the background. There’s a man. He had a terrible past, and he was now guilt-stricken
and desperate in hopelessness, heavy-hearted with shame, regret, and failure. He had complete distrust of everyone and
everything in life; he felt nothing besides hatred, desperation, and the
emotions correlated with guilt and condemnation. But he had one primary avenue of hope to
which all other elements in the story directed him back to- his childhood
Bible. He didn’t know why he had kept it
all these years, but he had.
The
underlying message of the story revolves around the theme of that man
struggling to raise crops on his acres of property. His land was dry and parched, and the soil
was hardened and rocky so that virtually nothing could grow. It was in a desert-like region of the
American West in the 1880s when sprinkler systems weren’t available, but never
the less, this man’s land needed rain desperately. If his crops didn’t grow to testify that he
had improved and worked the land, his property would be taken from him, and his
attempt to build a home and live an upright life would have failed.
Months
passed in the storyline, and the man began to attend the town church and began
reading his Bible faithfully, searching for answers and for direction of how to
escape this guilt he had been carrying for years. He wants to believe and to learn to trust and
love again, but after the wrong decisions he made in the past, he just can’t
accept the truth that God’s grace and love is so powerful that He would still
love and accept him with all of his past mistakes and would still have a plan for
his life. His life is as dry and barren
as his land, and he’s desperate for a breakthrough.
And
now here’s the image the Lord placed in my mind. Amidst this search, I saw this man frequently
sitting outside by his plowed and planted land, reading his Bible… trying to
find the courage to pray. And then I saw
a scene in his life one day, probably one of my favorite parts in the whole
story plot. It’s another hot, smothering
day, and the man is sitting inside his little cabin, trying to keep cool out the
noonday sun. He’s sitting on the
mattress of his bed, reading his Bible once again. His life is ripe for the breakthrough, and
he’s thirsty for the Lord’s presence in His life. He’s struggling with the fears and feelings
of failure and desperation again, wondering if he’ll ever find his way out of
the monotonous emotions of regret that he bears every day. Finally he can’t stand it any longer; he’s
tried everything within his own power and has nowhere else to turn but on his
knees. For the first time in years, he
gathers the courage to kneel at his bedside and pray.
A
sound comes from outside, softly at first and then it grows stronger until it
catches the man’s attention. He rises
from his kneeling, turns around, and walks toward the door. Opening the door, his gaze is met by the
sight of a heavy sheet of rain pouring down, soaking into his parched land
lying ready to receive the rain. In a
daze of disbelief, he woodenly steps outside.
He feels the rain on his skin as it begins to soak through his shirt and
drips from his hair, running down his face.
He closes his eyes as he takes it in.
Cool, rejuvenating, wet. It had
been so long that he had begun waiting for that day, longing to feel the rain. He falls to his knees in relief and turns his
gaze up to the heavens… and after months of searching, he finally gets it.
A
few weeks later, the first shoots of his crops begin to appear. It isn’t much, but it’s a start, paralleling
to the new life and spiritual growth the man has begun to experience as he has
fully surrendered to God and has entered the first steps of his journey in
learning to trust the Lord and society again.
As
the Lord inspired me with this scene, I was reminded that in our own journeys,
we often experience dry seasons in our lives.
Like this young man Daren, I’m sure all of us have experienced at some
time or another a period when we have grown dry and hardened and parched in our
lives and in our faith in God in some degree.
When we no longer feel the Lord’s touch anymore and we need a
breakthrough of rain. We no longer
trust, we no longer love, and we no longer have the faith to believe God for
who He truly is nor for the promises He makes in His Word. We get so trapped and caught up in our past
mistakes and wrongs that we lose sight of God’s incredible and unconditional
love and mercy for us. We begin to
embrace hopelessness and accept the lie that our life is too far from God to be
touched by His redemption and grace. Feeling
a burden of condemnation and of worthlessness, we carry the weight on our
shoulders that we will never “measure up” or be “good enough” to win God’s
approval and pleasure and make Him proud of us.
How often I wonder do we forget that Jesus Christ did not die on the
cross at Calvary for our sins because we deserved it. He died because He loves us even in our
undeserving state.
When
we can fully grasp this truth of His unconditional love and powerful grace for
us that is far greater than any sin we can commit, I truly believe that we will
experience a sense of freedom like we have yet to ever feel before. His abundant love and mercy is
overwhelming. It’s like a torrent that
rises and rises until it grows into an ever-flowing flood.
This
message is so simple, but if you find that its truth touches you particularly,
I pray that you will learn to let go of the lies that the Enemy has spoken to
you, telling you that you can never become what God wants you to be because of
wrong choices that you’ve made. You can
still find forgiveness and love and new life in Christ, and you can still be
used by God and fulfill the plan that He has for your life. It’s never too late to fall into the rain of
His presence. He is a flood of living
water that makes all things new.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has
gone, the new has come!” (2 Co 5:17) “I
will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you
your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” (Eze 36:26)
This
scene in the book has not been written yet, but in a few weeks once I write it,
I will share it with you on my writing blog The Avid Author (www.theavidauthor.blogspot.com). You can also read about the “theme song”
there that I’ve chosen for the book. If
the message of this post ministered to you, know that I am praying for you as I
write this new novel. Blessings to you,
and may you find true freedom and embrace unconditional love and acceptance in
Him.
“The Lord will guide you always; he will
satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like
a spring whose waters never fail.” Isaiah 58:11
Photo courtesy: Copyright (c) <a href='http://www.123rf.com'>123RF Stock Photos</a>
~We’ve all
heard of the phrase “pulling on her/ his heartstrings,” but heart-chords? I was struggling to decide what to name my
blog. I wanted it to be a name that was
both creative and meaningful. As I
pondered, my gaze fell upon my acoustic guitar where it stands in my bedroom,
and the Lord reminded me that our hearts- our lives- are instruments. They are constantly in song, but what melody
our heart plays is each of our own decisions.
They can play a melody for praise or for entertainment. A musician selects his songs according to his
audience. So do we. Whether our audience is the world or the
Lord, our song will be different. This
blog is designed to first, increase my awareness in finding God and His
guidance in my every day and second, to share the music lessons He teaches me
in tuning my heart to learn the chords of praise He longs to play on my
heart-instrument. Music is a powerful
tool. Use it for His glory. “He
put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in
the Lord.” Psalm 40:3
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