It has been hot here in Texas. Like record breaking days with no rain, record breaking days of temps over 100 degrees and record low lake levels. I’ve heard of seasonal depression for people who live up north when the cold and dark clouds move in and they don’t get enough sun. I didn’t realize that you could also get depressed from too much sun. As the days have drug on without an end in sight, I realized that was exactly how I felt. My brain and my heart were heavy at the thought of needing to go outside. I would avoid driving during the day because the car could not get cool battling the sun pouring in through the windows. I would check the weather app hoping to see that maybe in 10 or 15 days, there would be a chance for rain or at least the temps would drop out of the 100’s, but we went well past two months with no end in sight. Everyday we were faced with a bright blue sky and not a single, teeny tiny cloud.
Then one day, as I went to pick up a child from school, I saw this.
My mind was immediately transported back thousands of years to a story found in 1 Kings, chapters 17 and 18. Elijah was God’s prophet at the time, and God was displeased with the actions of Ahab, the current king. Because of the evil that had been done and the worship of Baal that was rampant, the land had been in a severe drought for three years. Elijah clears the land of the prophets of Baal and then tells Ahab to get ready because a big rain storm is coming. Elijah then goes and prays and sends his servant to go and look out towards the sea. The servant doesn’t see anything. Seven times Elijah sends him back and finally, that last time, he says he sees a small cloud like the size of a man’s hand, over the sea.
Within a few hours, it is pouring rain. Elijah knew it would rain because God had told him that the time for the drought was over. He didn’t get discouraged when he sent his servant to look for rain and there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky. He didn’t get discouraged the third time or the sixth time that he sent his servant to look and again, there was nothing. He trusted that the Lord said He would bring the rain and at the right time, he knew He would. Elijah just stayed on his knees, trusting that the Lord would do what He said.
I really resonate with this right now in my life. I feel like God has spoken some things over my life and has called me to obey in some, out of my comfort zone, “scary”, ways. I’m trying to follow Him into things that I can’t actually accomplish on my own. Of course there are little things I can do here and there but the actual accomplishing of this huge task is completely out of my control. Daily, I sit with the Lord and lay it all before Him, and have to constantly and consistently place my trust in Him to do what He said He would do, even when it’s not happening according to my timeline.
I have felt like I’m responsible to make it happen and a lot of people are depending on me. I’ve wrestled with huge feelings of doubt and failure but as I turn to the Lord in those moments, the Holy Spirit gently reminds me that He will accomplish His purpose. I’ve brought all that I have and now it’s His turn to provide.
I have been reading in Luke recently and because of this current battle, this verse really stuck out to me. It’s Luke 1:45, “Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill His promises to her.” The verse is spoken by Elizabeth, Mary’s cousin and the mother of John the Baptist while both John and Jesus are still in the womb. It was also a stark contrast between Mary’s response to what the Lord spoke to her and Zachariah’s, Elizabeth’s husband’s, response. Zachariah doubted that God would do what He said because of human logic like age and fertility. Mary believed that God could do the impossible like have a virgin give birth to a baby.
God still did what He said He would do, and Zachariah became a dad, but he couldn’t talk for the months leading up to his son’s birth.
I want to follow in Mary’s footsteps of believing that God will do what He says even when human reason says it is impossible. The Holy Spirit reminded me as I read these very familiar passages and story, that my job is now to believe that God will keep His promises.
Is there something that you aren’t believing God can do? Have you given up on asking because it’s taking longer than you want it to? Continue to lay your heart before the Lord and ask Him to tell you what He wants to do. It’s possible that your request is something that He never promised. He knows that giving you that would not help you but actually hurt you instead. Submit your will to the Father, die to yourself, pick up your cross and look and listen for the promises HE has for you, because those He will fulfill!
Your Fellow Traveler
lacey
Find True Joy 