Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Is Your Heart Drought Stricken? There's Hope!


Drought is one of the most costly natural disasters affecting our country. Although it’s gotten pretty hot by now, it’s nothing compared to the disastrous weather we were having a year ago. In June much of our state was in severe to extreme drought with all of the state in some form of drought. Not only was it dry, but most weather stations in our state were reporting the highest number of 100°F days for the month of June ever recorded.

It was hot, it was dry and it was miserable. The gardens dried up, the row crops suffered and hay was being brought from across the country at incredible prices. I can remember driving on the interstate and noticing that the trucks were carrying blackened and old hay. Everyone was desperate. Ranchers who had been weathering extended droughts for the last couple of years were now selling their prime beef cattle for butcher beef.  It was sad times across the nation’s mid-section.

When I look outside my window and see rain these days I don’t dare complain. The grass is green and we’ve stayed under 100 degrees just about everywhere around here. The mornings are misty and damp and still there’s a cool in the air. For all this I am most thankful.

Sometimes we experience different types of drought. Droughts of the heart, the spirit, the mind. It could be a cut back at work, a setback in health, or a fall back of friendship or fellowship. At first, we adjust – we cut back on our wants and concentrate on our needs. We quit wishing for more and start praying for enough. But as the hard times of sorrow or worry or fear extend, we find ourselves desperate for any source of water and for any cool place to lie down and rest.  

For the Christian, God is so merciful! He will take our withered lives, our barren lands and our broken hearts and restore them! He gives water in a dry and arid place and He brings a cooling peace to those who seek Him with their whole hearts. He is a restoration loving God! He is a redemption bringing Savior! Regardless of how hard things may be at the moment, we can look forward to our hearts, minds and spirits being renewed.  We may not know when it will happen, but God’s promise is that if we seek Him we will find Him. And where we find Him, we find rivers of living water for everything we need.

Oh beloved, is your heart crying from a drought?  Your soul may seem fine to the outward glance, but inwardly you are dying for lack of refreshing. You’ve gone from well to cistern to pool and found nothing worth having, nothing to quench the thirsting of your soul. Run to the Lord this morning! For God has promised you refreshment and renewal and blessings. He understands your situation, He sees the extreme conditions you’ve been living in and He is able to cause you to flourish in the midst of it all. You don’t have to wait until things get better to thrive, for God is your reason for living! He says to you this morning come away to Me and receive all you need for your heart, your spirit and your mind. I AM your fountain of living water and I will never turn you away.

Circumstances may bring drought, but life in Christ will always cause you to flourish for God loves you and He’s for you and that’s your true source of refreshing always!

John 4:14 But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.

Psalm 63:1 …O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water.

Psalm 143:11 For the glory of your name, O Lord, preserve my life. Because of Your faithfulness, bring me out of this distress.

Psalm 107:8-9 Let them praise the Lord for His great love and for the wonderful things He has done for them.   For He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

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