As many of you know, this blogging thing is new to me. I am learning and getting all the quirks worked out. Being consistent to writing in the midst of LIFE is also an adjustment too.

In the last week, I have had many things that I was pulling around in my wagon. Needless to say, the wagon has gotten pretty heavy. Some of the items in my wagon are normal, everyday occurrences that just sometimes get overwhelming anyway. There are other items I would rather not be in there, but for some reason or another need to be dealt with.

There are items that just by happenstance jump into the wagon unexpectedly…like people getting the flu or pneumonia. Which is what happened to two individuals in our family this week. This has now spread to 8 of the 18 family members that we are suppose to spend Christmas with this weekend. How lovely is that?!

Believe me there has been some pretty serious prayers for healing being sent up by some little girls desperate to see their cousins!

I was talking to a friend the other day about the items in my wagon. She commented, “When it rains, it pours…I am sure glad God gives us raincoats and umbrellas!” Ha! I had never heard the second part but it really stuck with me. I told her she was exactly right!

I was stuck in the first part – “Woe is me…why is it raining in my back yard!” I wasn’t focused on the provision that God has given me. I could then imagine Jesus standing there with the raincoat and umbrella in his hand saying, “Ahem…you might need this!” Now, that thought made me smile and move on.

As I have been asking God what my next post was about, he downloaded this into my lap. Literally, it flooded! So this week, we are going to have a 2 part series that I will be posting today and the second part tomorrow (Thursday).

There are times in our lives when God does send the rain to teach us the lesson of depending on Him. To depend on those provisions that he SO gracefully gives us. He knows the bigger picture. He knows the person he is shaping me to be. That is who I want to become – not my vision but his.

Sometimes, we just have to stand in the rain, love him, seek his face in the middle of the storm and wait for His glorious results to come out on the other side. That is the reason He is teaching me so humbly to be able to switch gears when things don’t go the way I expected. Kinda like learning to manage my expectations. It is gift I am learning to try and use more often!

The song I am posting today is one that I have loved for quite some time and have used in sharing my testimony with bigger groups. Many of you are going to know it and have heard it many times too. It is Mercy Me’s song “Bring the Rain”.

I am reminded how awesome it is to go to that place when we know the storms are coming or even when we are caught off guard by the storms – just knowing that God can use this to make us grow closer to Him.

James 1:2-4 says “My brothers and sisters, be very happy when you are tested in different ways. You know that such testing of your faith produces endurance. Endure until your testing is over. Then you will be mature and complete, and you won’t need anything.”

He is taking our faith to a different level. One that produces endurance and maturity in our relationship with Jesus.

I love the lines of “bring me anything that brings you glory” and “And I know there’ll be days when this life brings me pain but if that is what it takes to praise you – Jesus bring the rain.”

Like just now when I thought we were out of the woods today and my little one comes up to me with a thermometer in her mouth….Let me go…I am looking for my raincoat and umbrella now! 🙂

Please post a comment if this ministers to you! Come back tomorrow for a special treat!

Click here For Mercy Me’s song “Bring the Rain”.

Amy