Parched

This has been a summer of drought. Unlike anything I have seen in recent years. Even the  media is reporting it as severe to extreme. The heat has been record breaking. Storm clouds form. Rain is predicted, but the clouds pass overhead with a few drops and are gone.

The hopeful dreams of spring planting have turned into gnarly brown crops and deep, craggy cracks in the soil that are beginning to look as deep as the Grand Canyon. Loss!


We all have them, but we don't often admit we do. Spiritual droughts, parching our heart, come in and out of season just like the drought we are experiencing this summer.

We are weary with the dryness and heat. Strength starts to wane. Despite our best efforts, our eyes begin to dry, faith gets old, our hearts are hard, and our prayers grow cold. Why? I am a Christian. I shouldn't feel this way. Is this what the Chrisitan life is all about? Highs and lows?  Feeling parched? Where are the roses? What happened to the "joy of the Lord is my strength." Cracked and brown! Drought! I am!

Dear reading friend,  I would be lying to you if I said, "I never have times of spiritual drought when my eyes are dry, my faith is old, my heart is hard, and my prayers grow cold." Do I, often, feel weary? You bet I do! Do I wander in circles in the spiritual desert of my soul? You bet, I do! Am I highly vulnerable when the going gets tough? Absolutely! Why?

Answer:
I have forgotten who I belong to. I have forgotten my spiritual identity. I am a child of the King! Why would I want to live like a spiritual pauper allowing every wind and wave to overtake me?  I have the glorious riches of Christ lavished on me by the grace and mercy of God (Ephesians 2:4-10). I am known by Him and found in Him (Ephesians 1:1-14). Every detail of my life has already been sifted through the loving fingers of God.

I need to remember! Every tug and trial that comes my way is a precious gift from God that draws me to HIM, and is perfectly designed by the one who knows my greatest need. Oh, to be found in Him and to rest in Him! Streams of living water flow through a parched heart making it supple!

The book of James reminds me to:
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,  for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing... Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. James 1:2-4,12.

Connect that thought to this one:
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Romans 5:1-5.

Conclude that thought with this one: 
Have you not known? Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
     his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
    and to him who has no might he increases strength^.
 Even youths shall faint and be weary,
    and young men shall fall exhausted; 

But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;

    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
They shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:28-31.

I will choose, this day, to remember that I am His and He is mine!