My area has seen a fair amount of rain over the past week.  Rain is normal and needed especially during the hot, humid days of summer.  But the intensity, ferocity, and duration with which the rain fell was far from normal.  Day after day, night after night, the rain deluged the area.  With floods, mud, compromised basements, impassable roads, intense lightning, and downed trees many were left asking, “When is this barrage going to end?  There is only so much more the ground can hold.”

Thankfully, the clouds, as they always do, dispersed and moved on. The sun emerged again allowing everyone to breathe a sigh of relief.  Are there not times in life when it seems as if successive blows and challenges bombard us again and again and again much like this past week’s rain?  Aren’t there times when we approach a new day with trepidation anticipating the next shoe to drop?  Our heart, mind, and body can come to the point where we simply feel that we can bear no more weight; where the onslaught has exhausted us to the point where we feel as if we just cannot absorb an ounce more.  These times are wearying, frustrating, and sometimes frightening.  I think most of us have likely experienced episodes like this.

But interestingly enough, something amazing happens after those torrential times.  There is growth.  This week my garden served as a gentle reminder of this.  Without fail, my garden sees exponential growth after significant rainfall.  And after a week like last week, my garden is a treasure trove of new growth and fruit production today.  My tomato plants are now so lush and full of fruit that some of the plants are bursting over their supports.  There are new watermelons on the vine that were not there prior to the downpours.  My sweet potato vines now fill the garden bed and their tendrils continue to reach farther in search of more space to expand.  The cucumber plants are bursting with yellow blossoms where there were only few before.  The growth is undeniable and would not have been so evident had the storm and rain not been so intense and unrelenting.

When we experience periods in life that are flooded with strife and heartache, it is seemingly impossible to focus our heart and mind on what the other side of the storm will yield.  Contemplating how God is at work in the midst of the mess is hard, but that is exactly what we must do. However, more often than not we become more concerned with the alleviation of the burden than the refinement of the heart.  Growth is the furthest thing from our minds. This is why we must have great intentionality; we must bring our mind to the place where we recall and claim what God has spoken in His Word.  He is with us (Isaiah 41:10).  He will not forsake us (Deut. 31:6).  He is working (John 5:17).  He is good (Psalm 34:8).  He loves us (I John 4:2). These words need to take up residence on our lips with such regularity that they begin to become etched on our hearts and minds.

When the storm is long, sometimes we tend to question and doubt.  I’ve been there.  I have muttered the words “why” and “no more” more than I care to admit.  In the absence of trials I need to continually remember that God is at work and that He remains firmly in control. The more that I focus on these things now, the more likely I am to press into them when difficulties arise.  How much better to proactively allow these truths to permeate us to the core now before difficulties arise.

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
    I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
 When you pass through the waters,
    I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
    they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
    you will not be burned;
    the flames will not set you ablaze.”
Isaiah 43:1b – 2

God is in the process of refining us, especially in the most intense and prolonged times of trouble.  And while we often see Him as distant during these times, the opposite is true.  He has never been closer and never been more at work.  He desires our growth and not just a small, insignificant growth.  He desires a lavish, flourishing, abundant growth within us where it becomes our desire to abandon the unlovely parts of us, rest in Him, and become more like Christ.  Sometimes only the storm can yield such growth. A quick look further into Isaiah 43 reveals what the Lord is doing:

“Forget the former things;
    do not dwell on the past.
 See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland.”
Isaiah 43:18-19

If you currently find yourself being battered by wave after wave of roadblocks, setbacks, and troubles, press into the Lord all the more.  Put the words of Isaiah 43:18-19 on your lips. Allow God to work and be overwhelmed at the growth that awaits on the other side of the storm.