GROWING SEEDS: "Every Storm Runs Out Of Rain"

Every Storm Runs Out Of Rain.

I saw this quote above painted on a small piece of wood at a qaint little store last year.  The Coffee Chicks (we've recently changed our name to Girl Gang, btw) had invaded Branson, MO for a few days and were out shopping when I turned a corner in the store and there was this quote staring at me:

"Every Storm Runs Out Of Rain"

I remember standing there staring at it thinking, "Those are the words I've been waiting five years to see".  I'm not going to lie, friends; it's been a tough five years for this girl named Liz.  I have felt the over-spray from each wave that has attempted to drown me.  A literal flood....cancer.... death....anxiety....house sell....and now?

Today....I feel like Job Chapter 43.

Spoiler Alert:  There is no Chapter 43 in the Old Testament book of Job.  After 41 chapters of watching Satan test this man Job to his max.....taking his children, his wealth, his health....everything he ever loved (well, except that cranky wife of his), we find him happy and thankful as we turn the page to Chapter 42.  He is blessed because he endured the storm of Satan and now finds his life has been restored with double what he had before....because he never gave up on God.

So what does this have to do with Liz?  I'm certainly no Job, although I have referred to myself on occasion as "Job-ette" during my toughest storms these past five years, I feel like God has brought me to a place of peace.  A place of exhale.  Chapter 43.

And like Job, God has restored everything He allowed to be taken during my time of testing.  My toes are no longer dangling off the edge of a cliff as they once were.  I'm no longer begging Him for rescue from the storms in the corner of a closet and I'm now standing at the start of a new chapter.  God has been leading and preparing me to return home near family to the Dallas area after almost 20 years in Mt. Vernon.  I'm as shocked as you probably are.

But one never starts a new chapter without taking part of the old chapter with them....and I'll be taking what I learned, what I discovered and what I loved about Mt. Vernon with me into my next chapter.  I feel the urge to build an alter here, much like the Children of Israel did so many years ago to mark a place of remembrance and difference in their lives.  Mt. Vernon has been that place of great remembrance and difference to me. I found many of you here...and even more importantly, i found God here.

And I am living proof that every storm does indeed run out of rain.