When I was in college I took a couple acting classes. It was counted as credit for the communications degree that I was going for, so I figured why not? One of our projects was to partner with someone and perform a song from a musical. My partner and I decided to do “A Little Fall of Rain” from Les Miserables.
I was on cloud 9, since Eponine is my favorite character in a musical, still to this day. And that song is tragically beautiful with lines like a little fall of rain, can hardly hurt me now, and rain will make the flowers grow.
After Eponine dies, her death inspires the men to declare as the battle begins that her death will not be in vain, and that she would not be betrayed.
And rain will make the flowers grow…
A few weeks ago, my son Charlie asked me why the sun wasn’t out? I explained to him that the sun was out and it was just behind the clouds. He then asked well why the clouds are out to which I replied that it was going to rain.
Why is it going to rain? (He has a comeback for everything)
Because the rain will make the flowers grow. And there it is. Truth bomb. Flowers, grass, trees need rain to grow. And. So. Do. We.
Yes, I said it.
We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. Romans 5:3-5 (NLT)
Rain, makes the flowers grow, just like our challenges and trials help us develop endurance, character, and hope. The hope that doesn’t disappoint.
Many of you know that last year my husband and I got stuck in Puerto Rico while we were vacationing when Hurricane Maria hit. That was a lot of rain, and I have said that since then life has sometimes felt like a hurricane. Many times the storm was my emotions, other times it was trials that came at us. I’m the type of person that likes to run away when things get hard. But in February God laid on my heart to pray for endurance, so I did and I am so thankful that I did because I believe that prayer really sustained me through some rain.
I was going through a transition that was harder than I anticipated it to be. I didn’t expect the range of emotions that I had all at once. I sometimes wondered if I would ever feel like myself again (yes, the answer to that was yes). Fear to joy, wrestlessness to peace, uncertainty to security. I can think of many times that I thought I just need to get through…
Just like flowers need the rain to grow, most also need the sun.
Mike and I were asked to be in a wedding recently. It was my cousin’s wedding, and the ceremony was going to happen on a cruise, on a beach in Bermuda. So last week, we boarded a ship and cruised to Bermuda. I had never been to Bermuda before, and was really excited for the amazing beaches that I had heard about.
And let me tell you, we went to the most beautiful beach I have ever gone to, and I have been to a lot of beaches. The pink sand was the finest sand that my feet had ever stepped foot on. Swimming in the cool turquise water felt amazing. Even more amazing since our previous beach vacation got interrupted by a not so little hurricane.
But see, God just didn’t give us a vacation at the most beautiful beach I had ever been to. He gave us a celebration at the beach. A wedding. My cousin could have gotten married anywhere, but they chose a beach. How God is that?
The night before the wedding, the weather wasn’t looking like it was going to cooperate. We were sitting at dinner with my aunt and uncle, and were talking with the two young women next to us, and they told us that they were going to be praying for the rain to hold off for the wedding.
The day of the wedding was cloudy, and we couldn’t tell what the weather would do. As soon as I started walking down the beach, it started to rain. Great…
But as soon as the bride walked down, the rain stopped and the sun came out! I was joyfully overwhelmed as we celebrated my cousin marrying Amy. I had never been to a wedding on a beach before, and I was joyfully overwhelmed that God had given us the gift of the redemption of not just a vacation on a beach, but a celebration. I had to step away to take in the beauty of the moment.
But just like we need the rain for the flowers to grow, we also need the rain for us to see the beauty of the sun. And we need the trials and challenges for us to see the beauty of the Son.
I am not sure how much I have grown through all of this, but the past 6-9 months have required more faith and hope than ever before. And required me to trust more in Jesus than I ever have before, even if there were times when I felt like I had no faith at all.
The one thing that I have seen to be true is that the rain doesn’t stop the sun from shining. And challenges don’t stop Jesus from shining. Through it all, the trials and emotions, I saw the beauty of the Son. I saw His hope and experienced His love through it all, but only because He was constant and never changing. He was the hope that didn’t disappoint.
So, beautiful one, keep enduring, keep perservering. The sun is still shining. The Son is still shining.
