After the Drought Comes the Flowers!

I live in South Texas. And I love it.

I like Mexican food and cowboy boots.
I think Salsa should be considered as it's own separate food group.
I love when someone says, "Howdy!" to me.
I think the skies in Texas have their own, beautiful shade of blue.

But there is something else about living in South Texas that I don't like as much.

Drought.

Every few years, we seem to have a drought. Last year's was a doozy! It was like the faucet was turned completely off and not a drip or drop fell from the sky.

And, after a few months of no precipitation and record highs, the land looked dead. So dead, in fact, that it seemed like it could not possibly ever be beautiful again.

It really began to feel as if there was no way there would ever be life in the land again. Crops were dead. Grass was varying shades brown. Livestock was dying.

It was bad.

And so we prayed.
We cried out to God.
We petitioned the Creator of life.
We beseeched the Sustainer of all.
We appealed to the only One who was capable of bringing us relief.

And He, Who is faithful, supplied our needs.  After a year of almost no measurable rain, this is what our spring looks like:

There were rains all winter and now there are flowers. Everywhere. Blue. Purple. Lilac. Yellow. Orange. Red. Pink.

And that makes me think.  You know, while all around me was dead, dry, and desolate, somewhere, under the dust, lay the seeds of these very flowers. Dormant. Waiting. Hoping.

For the rain.

And when it came, the flowers bloomed. The fragrance wafted.  The colors splashed. The beauty abounded. What had once been dead, was now alive.

And how about you. Are you in a drought?
Do things seem desolate and does all hope seem gone?
Have you had a death of a dream or a hope?
Does it seem that all the "rain" in your life has stopped?

Then wait. And don't loose hope. Your dreams are not dead. They are just dormant.

Pray, cry out, petition, beseech and appeal to your Sustainer. Because the rains will come. He, Who is faithful, will send them.

So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; and He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth."

Hosea 6:3