Praying for Rain

I love this picture. This is John at the British Museum. He looks just like his Daddy in this picture. Of course, he looks just like his Daddy in every picture. :)

Tash decided she needed some quiet time this morning, too, so she planted herself smack in the middle of my quiet time. 

You made every star and
You taught it how to shine.
You knew my name before there was time.
All this is just part of Your glorious design.
Alleluia! Alleluia! "All My Praise" by Selah

I posted the last line of this chorus on my facebook wall yesterday, and I got several questions about it. No, nothing spectacular had happened. I was simply acknowledging the comfort I feel in knowing that what touches my life and my family is part of a design God has always had for me and for us. Before the world was formed, He knew my name. He knows me. He knows my heart. He chooses to love me beyond reason, anyway. Oh, my friends...in dark days and in light seasons, isn't that good news? To be known and loved by the Maker of the Universe? It doesn't mean that life is easy--anybody who says life is easy just isn't paying attention. But to know that ultimately, the plan for my life is to create in me a heart that mirrors His...that has to make the hard times better, I think.

It's raining in Vienna this morning. And with the rain, a cool breeze is blowing through the city. We live on the top floor of our building, and when it's hot outside, it's sweltering in the flat. John and I have been sweaty messes for most of the week, just trying anything we could to stay cool. It's especially hard when we sleep, because his bedroom and ours are upstairs in our flat, and it's even hotter there than the rest of the apartment. Trying to sleep while you're sweating is not pleasant. With Marc gone, I don't sleep that well, anyway, so this has only made it worse. And when I get up in the morning, there are duvets everywhere I look, as though I've been wrestling all night with some invisible giant. So God knew what He was doing when He sent me somewhere cool, like Europe, which really doesn't have many truly sweltering days. You can imagine, then, that the cool breeze and rain is more than welcome...it's an answer to prayers for relief from the heat.

Now, if Marc were here, he'd poke a little fun at me for turning the rain into a metaphor for how God works in our lives. But I can't help myself, and he's in Russia, so he probably won't even see this post. I was talking to an old friend earlier this week about where we are in terms of transition and feeling settled, etc., in Vienna, and we were talking about the first 18 months or so in Russia. Those were truly some of the most difficult months of our family's life. In metaphorical terms, it was hot. Together 24/7 in a two-bedroom apartment in a city the size of Moscow...well, let's just say that God was using that experience to refine us. He was sloughing off a lot of stuff in our hearts and our lives that He couldn't use and that weren't leading us to holiness. I told my friend this week that though those were difficult, terrible months, God accomplished some of His most beautiful work in us during that time. And after 18 months of heat, when the rains came and cooled things down, when we had the chance to look around and see how God had been at work (because isn't it hard to see when you're in the middle of it?)...amazing. But without the heat, the rain would just be rain, right? Without having been through the refiner's fire, we wouldn't experience such overwhelming joy at the coolness of the rain. And so I'm not just grateful for the rain. I'm also grateful for the heat. Because I know this for sure and for certain--our God never wastes anything. Not a single experience is wasted if we let Him use it. Not the heat. Not the rain.

It's only going to get up to about 75F today, according to the forecasts I've seen. So I'm looking forward to not sweating to death as I go about the day. And next week, when it climbs into the 90s again, I will remember that it's a cycle, that there is heat, then cooling down, then heat, then cooling down...it goes on and on until the fall, when it will just cool down. And life is like that, too. There are times of being refined, and then times of enjoying a season of peace and comfort. But it's good to remember and recognize those times of comfort, because they certainly help us get through the fire, don't they? Just knowing that relief is coming helps us hold on. Whatever circumstance or season you find yourself in, I pray you can remember that God's plan and design for you is perfect and holy. And I hope that you are looking forward to your beloved being home soon, too. Blessings to you and yours!

His,
Kellye