Living in both the mountains of southern California and in Dallas, Texas have given me the opportunity to learn about how amazing weather truly is. I often experienced flash floods in California and severe thunderstorms in Dallas. I loved them both! If this writing thing does not work out I may become a storm chaser!
One of the most awe-inspiring things is just how quickly the weather conditions can go from calm and serene to the sky being filled with dark, ominous clouds that are capable of causing torrential downpours. You see when one of these storms hit all that is in the path of the water that first forms streams, then small water ways and then without a moment’s notice a rushing river gets washed away. Whatever is in the path of this water gets pushed downstream-wherever downstream may be. Sticks, debris, tree branches, dirt, leaves, and even heavy rocks get thrown around by the force of this water. These events make me think about how this is what God desires for us-that we would be flooded with His love. Literally.
What does this look like? My inquisitive mind wondered for years until I experienced and continue to experience it. I asked God who was so clearly knocking on the door of my heart years ago how to experience this love. I did not only want to read about it in the Bible ( which is the most amazing place to begin), but I wanted to know it. He spoke a few things to my heart. One of which is that He wanted me to receive by faith what Christ had done for me on the cross. Romans 5:8 spells it all out, ” But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ” We are accustomed in this life to making things so difficult and deep to understand. God gives us revelation that makes His truth so simple. Another thing that He spoke to my heart was during the day, wherever I was, that He was wanting to continue to show me His love. He desired me to be aware of His presence in my day to day activities. My response was to ask the Holy Spirit to show me all the ways that my Father was continuing to show me His love. That my friends is a prayer that will get answered. Many of us have grown up in an environment where love was not openly shown or demonstrated. God can and will make up the difference! His love will come flooding in, if we let it, to remove all the ” stuff” that is in the way.
There are many things in our lives that block pure communication from our heavenly Father. For me it was a bunch of fear, inability to trust Him ( or anyone else), shame, pride, unbelief. You get it! I no longer live in those things. Why? How and what changed all of that? His love.
You see I believe when we look at nature ( including weather that so intrigues me) we see God and the way He works. When we see the way that a natural storm brews and then dumps so much rain that everything is washed away and flooded, He wants us to see what He longs to do in our lives. Literally flood them with His holy love. This truth love caused the Apostle John to literally “freak out” as I call it! I John 3:1 gives us a little glimpse into his “freak out session”, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” This guy walked with Jesus. He walked with love. He ate the passover meal with love. He ate breakfast by the sea with love. He watched Love heal and restore broken bodies and broken lives. He experienced the most authentic form of love when He walked with Jesus because God says He is love in I John 4:8. Amazing to think about isn’t it?
John’s life was totally and radically changed because of this love. He did not have to try or force Himself to be changed into who God always destined him to be. He just hung out with love. He believed that Jesus was God. He believed that God’s love came to rescue him and every other person on the face of this earth. He simply believed. Then He spent time with Love. With Jesus. I can give you no other formula than spending time with Love. In His Word, in His presence. It will look different all the time because God is so unique and adventurous! Will we stop our crazy and busy lives long enough to let love have it’s way inside of us? Will we choose to let down the walls we have built to keep God and His love out? Can we just sit, lie, dance, fall face down, or whatever and just receive? Just to breathe it all in?
If we do, the results will be so astounding that you will not be able to believe it or even recognize your own life at first! His love comes like the first big plops of rain on a dry and hot afternoon as the storm approaches over the horizon. The ground is dry and parched. Crevices fill the hard and crusty earth. Then the clouds thicken and the rain pours. The downpour has begun. Things get flooded. Gaps and gaping wholes in the ground suddenly are filled with water. Pride begins to bow at the feet of the Holy One. Things that we once held so tightly with these fists open. This time they do not open in angry surrender, but out of trust. Trust in this pure love that God has for us. We feel it. We rely on it. Trust that whatever He is allowing in our lives is because of His tender and watchful care over us. Our knees buckle. Not out of fear any longer but because we are worshipping. Bowing. Surenduring. The love keeps coming. Soon we look around us and everything is flooded. We cannot find what we were holding onto when the storm began but now we do not even care. All we know is we are being washed, cleaned, and purified from the inside out and it feels awesome! It feels right. We are changed. No more bitterness. No more hiding who we really are. The storm is over just as quickly as it began but we are not the same. His love never leaves. His love comes to make us more like Jesus. Perfect. Complete. Whole. Beautiful. All the things we ever desired and needed come as a result of this flood. We do not have to be afraid of what will be lost in the rushing waters because they cannot even begin to compare with what God gives us that we did not even know we were missing.
Will we let our hearts be flooded today? Will we surrender all that is going on in our lives-especially the things we do not understand-to His love? I’m letting this flood again sweep me off my feet because I have seen first hand what His awesome love accomplished in and through me!