Rain.

(This post was originally written for my church's blog.  You can find that here.)

It's Wednesday morning, and I'm listening to the rain pour from our rooftop for the third day in a row.  Once again, I've missed my small window of opportunity for an early run, but since a July thunderstorm in Oklahoma is always preferable to the heat, I'm not upset.  The dishes are done, the laundry is washed and folded, lesson plans for tutoring are finished, and my daughter is asleep in her swing.  So I curl up on the couch to listen to the steady rhythm of the drops pitter-pattering on the glass windows, and I thank God for the rain.

When my husband and I first got married four years ago, he prayed for hardships.  He didn't do so because he is glutton for punishment, but because he knew that trials would make us stronger in our faith and in our marriage.  I always hated those prayers, partly because I like my life to be easy, but also because I knew that God would hear my husband...and He would answer.

He did answer, and not at all in the way I wanted.  Had my husband realized what the future held for us as he prayed, he might not have asked for the trials.  We've shed so many tears together in the last three years as we have endured tough jobs, the death of loved ones, and infertility.  The rain has fallen in torrents, and we both have come to the end of ourselves.

I think that's what God intended for us all along- to reach the place where we died, along with our naive hopes and selfish plans, and He was all that was left.

You see, we all forget God on the sunny days.  We expect the sun to rise every morning, yet we fail to thank Him that it does.  When all is well and our lives are filled with blessings, our thoughts begin to turn into, "Look what I've done" and "Everything is going exactly according to my plan."  Then Jesus, in his kindness, sends the rain to remind us that our life is not our own but His.

For the past two days, after the rain has subsided, a rainbow has shone brightly in the sky.  I see it faintly again this morning, and I am reminded of the simple truth that rainbows only come after the rain.  Rain brings the beauty of a rainbow into existence.  Today, as I look at my adopted daughter and work at a job that I love, I am reminded that those things are even more beautiful because of the many days when the sun did not shine.  I've prayed for prosperity, but because He loves me, God sent hardships.  "His blessings have come through raindrops and His healing through tears."  And finally, I'm thankful for that.  He has not let me forget Him.

"The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit." -Psalm 34:18