Rain + Holding On

If you have a toddler, does he or she ask you the same question hundreds of times a day? Eloise’s new favorite question to ask is “Why?” and today, a rainy day, the question was “Why did Mr. Rain come?” My answer has been that sometimes God makes it rain so that the flowers can grow.

Today’s verse in my daily devotional is Exodus 17:5-6:

"The Lord answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” The author of the devotional talks about how she recently made bone broth—soup from bones.

Flowers from rain, water from a rock, soup from bones.

I haven’t slept in months—years, really. It’s easy to get discouraged. I’ve lamented to many that I’m at the end of my rope. But if that were really true, I would’ve fallen off by now, and yet I’m still holding on, not to my own credit.

Isn’t it a miracle that if God can bring water out of a rock, how much more can He bring hope to our lives when we’re feeling hopeless? These years with little ones are hard, but there’s also something comforting about going back to the basics and living closely to Him who sustains.

Sometimes it needs to rain in our lives for the flowers to grow, and it is my constant prayer that I will remain open and obedient during this time so that God can mold and shape me into the wife, mother and woman that He wants me to be.