It is raining!

"Sometimes when you're in a dark place, you think you have been buried, but actually you've been planted."  (Positive Hits PER on Facebook)  I saw this on the Facebook feed this past week and just wanted to take a moment to give that one a little thought.  My BFF said something similar the other day when she said, "Sometimes we pray for the rain to come, then we complain bitterly when it starts to storm."  She definitely nailed that one on the head, didn't she?  There are times we want so badly for things to change because it seems like the worst possible place we could be in, but then all of a sudden something comes a long to show us we weren't in all that bad of a place to begin with!  The darkest places in our lives are not to be dreaded or overlooked for their significance - for they may just be the place transition and growth occurs!

Those planted in the house of the Eternal will thrive in the courts of our God.  (Psalm 92:13 VOICE)

The rains come, not in the absence of the storm, but in the midst of it.  The seed produces the plant, not in the absence of darkness, but in the presence of the careful planting of the one who knows how to nurture growth from the soil in which it is planted.  We may not agree with God's methodologies some times, but they are quite effective, aren't they?  I often stop to consider the darkest places, not focusing on how dark they seem, but to look for the evidence of light breaking through!  

Some things I'd like us to keep in mind as we go through our day today:

1. We have a caring God watching over our lives - nothing will escape his watchful eye.  We may want to stop cursing the place we are in right now and consider if it is perhaps by God's design we have been placed there!  His movement in our lives is with intent and determined purpose.  His actions on our behalf are never without love - even if they seem to place us in the darkest place for a short while.

2. Our perspective is often keeping us focused on the darkness around us - feeling like the walls have closed in around us.  What we often need the most is just to close our eyes to the darkness and see the face of God - for he resides in us and when we stop for a moment to consider his peace deep within, we will see his face and revel in his presence with us.

3. To be planted is one thing - to thrive is quite another. The one who tends our lives is the one who determines the growth which will come forth.  If we want to be the ones tending to the planting, we will likely be disappointed by what is produced.  If we allow him to tend what has been carefully planted within our lives, he will bring forth growth way beyond what we could ever imagine possible.

4. The presence of darkness doesn't mean there is an absence of light.  Light resides within - we are never without light - even in the darkness of storm, or the closeness of the walls which would seek to confine us.

5. Darkness need not stunt our growth.  A seed has to die before it can bring forth the evidence of life.  We often need to surrender our "willfulness" in order to realize the evidence of his character becoming our own.  

Just consider the storm and the darkness another source of his carefulness over your lives!  Just sayin!