Dance in the Rain

If you are anything like me, you are especially blessed on those Tuesday mornings when Shereen shares with us something from the Word and something from her heart, so sit back and enjoy with me this week as she shares her thoughts on Summer Rain:

Summer rain . . . the phrase takes me back to the summer of 2010. If you were around me then, you probably heard me recite Isaiah 45:8. Perhaps you even received a verse card quoting, “Sky above, let victory fall like rain; clouds pour down victory. Let the earth receive it, and let salvation grow, and let victory grow with it. I, the LORD, have created it.”

I made that verse my prayer for ministry that year. It came about after a particularly memorable walk on the road by my rural home. I could see clouds rolling in before I left, but decided to venture on anyway. And about a mile into my walk, deep thunder echoed through the sky . . . and I walked a little faster. But not fast enough.

In the middle of a downpour 2 miles from home, I remember raising my hands that day and calling on God for victory on many battled plains of my life.

I was certain that just like those clouds were ripe for rain, many women among our group were ripe for experiencing God’s victory in their life. And I was the ripest of them all.

Just like the hot dry days of August, my spiritual life was dried out from living in the world –confronting fear, standing up when misunderstood, speaking out for Truth, loving people anyway. How refreshing would it be to get soaked in victory!

It’s been almost 2 years.

I’m still swinging my sword on a daily basis.

Victory has come in dribbles rather than a downpour.

I’m still very ripe for a Hallelujah dance in the rain.

Even so, God whispered in my soul as I came across those verses again today. “Victory was won on that day in the summer of 2010.”

Victory came in the turning of my heart toward God.

The earth of me received something when I believed HE COULD DO IT. God planted a seed that sprouted into a plant called RELINQUISH. And it grows with each consecutive letting go.

I’m learning that victory comes in the moment we let go, relinquishing our lives to His will, His purpose, His values without regard to our own. In that moment, we own nothing and give ourselves away. We may never know the result of the letting go, but we need to be confident that, in that moment, all God asked of us has been fulfilled. We need to accept the victory and take time for a dance in the rain.