Remaining in the Rain

I love the sound of rain. The repetitive, calming rhythm accompanied with the overcast weather seems to whisper the words "still, rest, relax". I'm not sure what I prefer more; having a picnic on a sunny, spring day or a rainy Saturday, snuggled up on the couch with a cup of coffee and some brownies, watching movies or a reading a good book. The weather can be a powerful stage setting element to our moods and general disposition.

Then there is the type of rain that just pours down so fast, that you can't see anything ahead of you. This rain also causes flooding in basements and sends vehicles into hydroplaning. This kind of rain stops you or at least slows you up from your daily activities. The same element that can say "still, rest, relax" also has the potential to say "fear, damage and death", and no matter what the case, we can't stop the rain.

Over the last couple years I have been a gypsy in the desert, wandering from place to place, doing whatever I can to follow Gods call on my life; but now I have found myself in more of a tropical forest, where it is constantly raining. After my last job as a granny nanny, I thought that God had blessed me with an incredible career opportunity, complete with financial and physical provision; but instead I became sick with the mono virus and strep within the first week of work, and I lost that job. "When it rains, it pours" is an applicable statement for my life right now. 

This morning I asked God to show me and remind me of His promises. With candid honesty and full surrender I penned in my journal, asking Him to indulge my weak faith. True to His word, He led me to John 15:4-10.

" Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful apart from me. 5 "Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Anyone who parts from me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. 7 But if you stay joined to me and my words remain in you, you may ask any request you like, and it will be granted! 8 My true disciples produce much fruit. This brings great glory to my Father. 9 "I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. 10 When you obey me, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father and remain in his love."

As I pondered the verses, I realized that the verb "to remain" really is another way of saying "to be". And then I realized that in order to remain within Christ, that it is really a matter of the condition of my heart and recognizing that apart from Him I can bear no good fruit and do absolutely nothing of worth and value. I also recognized that in the weakness of my body and the depressive state of my spirit, that all God is asking me to do right now is to cling to the vine, despite the torrential rains of financial hardship, trust issues, and a hopelessness of the enemy that I am battling throughout the day that threaten to loosen my grasp. Cling to the vine friends. Remain in the rain, remain in Jesus.