Rainy Seasons

I can’t remember a spring when it has rained so much. 

Farmers have been unable to plow their fields, as tractors sink up to their axles.  Lawns are high.  Water overflows creeks, rivers and ditches.  Cars hydroplane because of deep water on the roads.  Wipers often fail to remove torrential rains from windshields and cars are forced to pull over to wait out heavy down pours.  The ground is saturated causing sports events to be cancelled.  Parts of Texas are under deep water!

And it appears that no let-up is in sight. 

Sometimes life is like that, too.  We become saturated and overwhelmed by difficult days.  Tension-filled situations threaten to destroy the very fiber of our existence, often with no let up in sight.  But summer and sunshine are on the way!

Over 35 years ago my late father-in-law experienced a long bout of depression.  Severe life-altering situations threatened his physical, mental and emotional health.  It seemed that nothing worked out for him.  Financial setbacks and family struggles took him to the brink of disaster.  Dad was a strong man, but everyone has a breaking point.  It seemed the more he prayed, the worse things got.  Ultimately, over a five-year period, he also lost his health.  Instead of family members and friends saying, “Poor Job,” they were saying, “Poor Dale!”

When life’s struggles escalated to a severe breakdown, my in-laws drove to Indiana from Alabama to be with their parents.  Subsequently, our family history records and remembers a miracle. 

Dad’s health had declined to the point where his nerves were shot and Parkinson-like symptoms caused his hands to shake.  He was at his wits end.  Dad sat mostly in silence, refusing to talk to anyone, including his worried wife and parents.

My wife and I remained in Alabama to take care of the church he pastored.  During those years Sunday night church was a regular part of our week.  Lori was at the piano when she heard the Lord say, “Pray for your father.”  Suddenly an intense burden came over her and she knelt down behind the piano and began praying earnestly for her dad, who was in desperate straits some 500 miles away. 

Dad was sitting in his parent’s living room in Jamestown, Indiana when he began experiencing more severe tremors.  He later said, “I felt like I was dying.”  The prayer burden in Lori’s heart became crushing to the point that she could only weep and moan.  Intercessory prayer reached the throne of grace from Gadsden, Alabama and exactly at 7:03 p.m., Dale Owens was healed!  Lori felt the burden lift that very moment.

Like rain that seems not to let up, we sometimes go through long periods when our faith is severely tested and answers escape us.  For me personally, my mind races back to October 1982 when an intercessory prayer meeting (of one!) connected with the Healer and across the miles a man who was desperately ill experienced an instantaneous healing. 

Inordinate amounts of rain may continue to fall but God alone is able to bring us through the harsh seasons of our life into the sunshine of His grace, healing and provision!