Rainy Days

It's raining today.
The gray clouds hang low in the air and the rain comes in a steady downpour.
Inside my shop, I can watch the rain and hear it beat against the windows.
The puddles are rising, but this isn't the flooding kind of rain. This is the gentle soaking variety.
No storms today, just gray skies and big drops of water.
From a young age, my dad taught me a love and respect for storms. Sitting on our screened in back porch, listening to the thunder and seeing the streaks of lightening flash across the sky are fond memories.
Now, as an adult, I love storms in Iowa. There aren't trees or hills to block out the beauty, so you can watch a storm building and approaching for hours sometimes. My husband and I sit on our front porch and watch the natural fireworks light up the sky and can feel God's power.
His might is so evident to me in the middle of a storm.
He's just so big.
But what about everyday, ordinary rain, like we 're experiencing today? Do I see God's power in it?
There's nothing flashy about today's rain.
Nothing dramatic.
It's just plain old rain.
When storms blow into lives around me, I often see God's power and unmistakable presence.
I see people being held up by the power of prayer; being strengthened by the outpouring of love and concern from a community; being protected and guided by God's providential hand.
But those are the big things.
But what about in the everyday, ordinary rainy days of life? What about the everyday things like constant financial pressure, or the drudgery's of your job, or the ongoing marital discord over nothing or the everyday-ness of dealing with an aging parent or a willful child, or the relentless ache of grief, or the exhaustion of caring for a special needs child, or the everyday challenges of a chronic illness?
Of course He's there: in all His grace, sovereignty, power and faithfulness, He's there.
But the low hanging clouds and the mundane tap tap tap of the rain dampen our senses and obscure our view and somehow this magnificent, awe-inspiring God seems, through the gloom, to be unavailable, unfamiliar, unapproachable and unloving.
If you've done any sort of consistent Bible reading and study, you'll be familiar with Lamentations 3:22-23:
Because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed, for his compassion's never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
But have you read what comes before those verses? Jeremiah, the author of Lamentations, is listing all the ways God, the same God in verses 22 & 23, has left him, abandoned him, afflicted him, scorned him and made him a laughing stock.
It puts these verses in a different light doesn't it? They become much more than nice words to hang on your wall or sing about or throw around lightly. They become the lifeblood of living each day only by His grace.
Just something to think about today.