Rainy Days

I am currently sitting in our local donut/coffee shop and I just indulged in a huge chocolate donut with rainbow sprinkles. So therefore, I am happy. It is also Friday, that makes me happy too. And, it is raining outside, which surprisingly is a joy as well. I am all about some sunshine and the perfect weather to play outside; but cozy, slow, rainy days like this are just what I need every once in a while. I like to call these days dreamy days, they make me slow down after a week of running through the week at full speed. Now, I can sit and be still.
I was just reading my Bible and read some sweet truths (shocker, Jesus teaching me something new). So as I flipped open my journal to scribble down some verses, I opened to January 8, 2013 and saw a sweet blurb in large letters across the page. It read:

"O Lord, I will only triumph in you

once I have learned the radiance of rain."

I don't even remember how I was feeling that day, or what I was doing, or how these words impacted me, but today- it hits home for me. I don't know about y'all, but I spend too much time rejoicing in the Lord when I come out of a hard season in life, rather than rejoicing in him during the storms of my life. Not even just rejoicing in Jesus, but thanking him and seeing the beauty of the rainy season. As soon as life gets hard, I easily run to the Lord in prayer that he will fix everything and help me. And that's if I even run to Him, sometimes that doesn't happen, which is hard to admit, but it's true. The things to remember with these rainy seasons in life are: 

1) They will happen, I'm sorry but you're human and you can't avoid it. 2) God is not punishing you. 3) God is teaching you. He is using this experience to teach you something great, something that the Lord knows you need. So rather than grumbling about how life sucks and unfair and God must not be listening to my prayers, blah blah blah (I'm saying this because I am guilty of these thoughts)...try praising the Lord for this time of growth He has given you, open your hands and prepare to receive this gift of learning from our Savior.

As Christians, we talk about living a "fruitful" life. Well, in order for a harvest to be fruitful, it needs to experience rain so it can grow.

The fruitful life seeks rain as well as sunshine.

So my friends, while I am thankful for the physical rain on this cozy Friday, I am also super thankful for the rainy seasons in my life. I don't want to look back on those times and think, where was God during that? I want to look back on those challenging times and praise God for being a faithful teacher and loving Father every step of that season.

Thank you Jesus for bringing abundant showers.

Happy Friday sweet readers.