My Rain Storm

I’m a senior.

That’s difficult for me to believe.

As I sit here on my bed, living off campus with some of the best friends I have ever had, it’s such a humbling reminder of just how faithful God is and how far He has brought me.This year has been yet another of God totally blowing my plans apart so that He can remind me of how faithful He is and how much better His plans are than anything I could ever ask or even imagine. This summer, I had the amazing blessing of being able to spend ten weeks doing full time ministry with high school students. As a girl who would never even GO to youth group, much less take a leadership position as a teenager, working with a youth group was never part of my plan. Yet again, God knew what I needed better than I did. Part of working with the youth group was going with an incredible group of teens and leaders on a mission trip to an isolated rural community in inland Jamaica.
When we got there we heard some sobering news: there was no rain. Not a drop of rain had fallen for over four months. The land was parched. Water shortages were beginning to be serious. Still. There was no rain. At least, not at first. As we began to hear about the drought and hear about the hardships, our team began to pray together that God would pour out the rain.

So He did.

The first day that we were there, it rained. That wasn’t all though. We didn’t just need rain, we also needed to be able to accomplish the work that we set out to do, so we prayed that it would rain, just not in the mornings or the evenings when we had to be outside working.

So God answered.

It rained four of the days that we were there. God let the rain fall, but it never fell on us. It never disrupted what we needed to do. It was incredible, a beautiful reminder that our God is big enough to call down the rain, but still He cares and knows enough for it not to rain on our little team.

So now, I’m back at UMD. I’m away from Jamaica, away from my amazing team and the amazing young women that I had the privilege of working with, if only for a summer. I’m back to the grind. But the memories of the miracles that God showed me this summer and the reminders of His goodness and His power continue to be my own rainstorm in the drought. In my own strength, I am burnt out and tired. I am weak. But HIS strength is made perfect in my weakness and He is my rain in the drought.