Every year on a mid-April evening we hear it for the first time. You can hear it coming as it taps on tin roofs down the hill, and as it splashes onto the broad, dry leaves of palm trees. I love to rush outside and listen as it rolls across the volcano toward us. Soon a smell rises up from the bone-dry earth, it is a smell that is known by everyone who lives in a land of two seasons.
The rainy season has come.
After months of dryness, and dust, and brownish-green plants everything will be green again. Things will change and grow, and some will die because they grow best in the dry season. The rivers will rise, mud will coat everything, and I will be truly sorry when I forget to keep an umbrella in my car.
I love the tropical rainy season that we get in Central America. The rains are awe-inspiring and I still marvel at them even after living through four rainy seasons. Sometimes they bring destruction as hurricane season follows closely behind and the rains can bring both life and death to our tiny nation.
The seasons are distinctly different. We trade blue cloudless skies for ones that are usually overcast but soon the colors of flowers are seen making the misty days and rain-soaked nights well worth it.
As the rainy season is arriving this year, I have seen so many parallels to life in ministry. There are seasons that we walk through when we make the commitment to join God full-time in His work. I am learning that every season has its own unique beauty. There are times of great, green, bountiful blessings when things seem at last to be blooming as they should. There are also times when the pain falls like rain and hopelessness is like a flood threatening to destroy the hard-won victories.
God is showing me that He is God of all of it. He has a plan when the rains fall, the rivers dry up, the flowers bloom, and the clouds cast a dark shadow. He is there in every detail, and He is faithful, just like the seasons.
Some days I want to rip my hair out in frustration, other days I want to cry in gratitude because I get to be living this life. On most days I just try to get through the day following God, failing, getting back up and doing it all over again.
The seasons may change, but our God never well. That brings me a deep peace that I know God is in the low moments, and the beautiful moments, and the sad moments, and the celebration moments. Right now I am walking through a bit of "rain" but I know that it is only for a season, and I thank God that He is in it with me.
What about you? What season are you in? How has God spoken to you in that place?
This is beautiful, Danielle. We just moved to Nicaragua about 6 months ago and this is the first time I am watching/waiting for the rainy season to come... and it comes at a season that feels pretty tough for me. We have three small children and #4 due in 3 months and are busy with residency which means a lot of running around to different officials (who of course I must talk to as I'm the only one in the family who speaks Spanish) and now a trip with all of us on a bus over the border to update our temporary visas and it all just feels HARD!! Yes I am venting. But I am trying to trust that God's till got a plan even when it looks impossible from where I sit. I love what you said about trying to follow God the best you can, falling, and getting up again. I think that's something I really need to hear as it's so easy for me to feel like one failure and then it's all just a waste and we shouldn't be here. But we do need to remember when He spoke so clearly. Hard doesn't always mean wrong. Right???
ReplyDeleteWonderful post! It is so important, at least in my life, to realize how seasons come and go. Thanks for sharing your wisdom!
ReplyDeleteMelissa...I feel for you! I am in El Salvador so I understand the "joys" of navigating the bureaucracy in Spanish! Yes, sometimes it feels super hard, but hard doesn't always mean wrong...but I'm so sorry you are going through all of that stress and I hope you get a break soon!
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