Bring the Rain

My heart is heavy right now. Very, very heavy. With each recent phone call or email that I have received, be it from a friend or from our family, the challenges and burdens and difficult seasons as I like to call them, that others are going through are seemingly overwhelming and they are weighing quite heavily on my mind and in my heart.

We have dear friends dealing with some pretty scary seizure-like episodes with their infant daughter. My sister has been put on bed rest as she is trying to keep her blood pressure down at a safe level to continue her pregnancy. My father has been ill and unable to shake a nasty bug for months now, and we have another friend that is coming upon the anniversary of the death of her brother. The list does not end here unfortunately.

These are tough seasons to walk through. I cannot imagine having to give my child CPR during a seizure. And the fear of something happening to an unborn baby is something I have experienced and those feelings and emotions are indescribable. And I dare not even think about losing someone I love. Yes, these seasons are dark and my heart is physically aching for those I love that are walking down these paths.

But I do know this to be true, it takes a dark, difficult season to see the light.

I sadly know this first hand and the memory of that arduous season in my life is still real and painful at times . But I did make it through that interminable season. I did. And that is the only reason that I can wholeheartedly say that it takes a journey such as that to truly see and believe the absolute sovereignty of our Lord.

That's not to say I don't wish there were another way around it because I do. Oh, how I do! But I just don't think life works that way. I think you have to feel the pain to know the joy. I think you have to experience the disappointment to know the gratification. I think you have to walk through the rain to see the rainbow. I think you have to fall to be carried.

With these burdens on my heart, I keep turning to this song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m17af0XmPFo

Yes, Lord, bring me anything that brings You Glory, even bring the rain!