I am having trouble finding words here. The transition spot is squeezing me and my family and I covet your prayers. I thought I would share the reminder from the archives that I needed.

I don’t want to stand in the desert and talk about how it really should rain, how it used to rain here all the time and now it is not and if it would just rain again then everything would be okay. Don’t get me wrong. I am praying for rain. I am standing in the desert praying that the Lord would make it rain. Make it rain justice, and mercy, make it rain grace and peace. Lord make it rain! And I think He can, and I believe He will. I will listen for thunder and sniff the air, I will smell the hope of rain.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t grab a shovel and start digging. Yes, I want it to rain, but that isn’t the only way for water to come. Mercy and justice can also spring up from the ground and that is just as miraculous.

I will stand where the Lord has lead my heart, I will bring a shovel, and I will start digging. I will trust that the water will spring up from the ground, and I will dig. I will pray for rain, and I will pray for the strength to keep digging. I will join others as they begin to dig.

I will notice the wells that have already been built and I will dig with my brothers and sisters to widen the well, so that more water might pour out. And I will continue to pray for water.

I am no longer willing to live in the land of swimming pools and freshly watered lawns and contnue to be willfully ignorant of the deserts of my brothers and sisters. I will take my water to them, pour it out for them, and aid them in digging their own wells. I will turn off my hose when I have enough, so that others can also have enough, so less will go thirsty. I will pipe my water into their community. I will give both a shovel and a glass of water to those in need.  And I will pray for rain.

But I will not stand in a desert and lament that there is no rain; I will not blame the thirsty for their lack of water while I stand in my shower and let my water run over me just because I can. I will not see my full well as a sign that I am doing it right, and the thirsty are doing it wrong. I will pray for their rain, and I will join them in digging.

I will pray: Lord make it rain, and Lord allow the water to spring up from the ground. I trust where you put my heart. I will sniff the air and smell the rain, and I will put my hands to the shovel and I will dig. I will trust that the water will come, and I will find those desert places, and I will bring my water, and my shovel, and I will trust that the water will pour out.