As I listened to the torrential rain falling on the roof of our trailer, I couldn’t help but think: “No, I wouldn’t have pre-ordered such weather for this camping trip…”
And it rained through the night and as we started out on our first hike of the morning. In fact, it rained so hard that we had to turn back. As we got back to the car, however, the rain eased off, and it didn’t rain another drop all day. This allowed us to spend most of the day hiking even prettier trails, pick berries, and souvenir shop to our hearts’ content, without a single thought about the weather.
Oh, it did rain overnight again…but it stopped just in time for us to break camp…
And then it rained for almost the entire trip from Bayfield Wisconsin to Green Bay; but it stopped just in time for us to explore the city and set up camp for the night.
With the forecast still far from good for the next day, I was fretting about how we would be stuck inside all day when my husband looked up from what he was doing and said, “It will be sunny tomorrow. You watch and see.”
I raised an eyebrow. He obviously hadn’t read about the 50 mm of rain predicted in the next 24 hours…
My husband just grinned at my raised eyebrow. “We’re going to trust God on this one,” he said. “We’re going to have sunshine tomorrow!”
I’m afraid there may be some “rain on my camping trip” in my personal “forecast” as well at that time. When you are a cancer survivor, the thought ever in the back of your mind is, “will it return?” Cancer is known, after all, to do just that. And every time I find a strange lump or bump, or every time I experience a new pain of unknown origin, this thought goes through my mind. This was the thought foremost on my mind as I explore a strange swelling under my chin…Yup, it was highly possible that my personal “forecast” called for “torrential rain on my camping trip”…
My husband’s prediction proved true. And why not? He got it straight from our Lord and Creator. Any moisture that fell from the sky did so during the night, and the next day was beautiful and warm. We were able to hike and climb lighthouses and snap pictures to our hearts’ content, and the following day, when it was time to fold down the pop-up trailer, everything was packed away dry.
It did rain, however, as we began our homeward trek. Torrentially in fact. But when we arrived at our campground in upstate Michigan that evening, even though the forecast still called for torrential rain, the ground was dry, the sky was clear, and nary a drop fell.
Yes, “rain” will fall in life. Whether in the form of cancer or other illnesses, financial difficulties, relationship problems, problems with the kids, unexpected fires, or whatever it may be, it will come. But if we take the time to look back over our lives, we see that though we don’t realize it in the moment, those troubled times always fall when they will leave the least noticeable footprint. It reminds me of one of my favorite passages from Ecclesiastes: “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven …He has made everything beautiful in its time.” (Eccl 3:1,11)
As I think back over the rain on our camping trip, I realize that if I had adopted a bit more of my husband’s attitude, I would have spent a lot less time worrying about the weather messing up my hiking and kayaking plans. In the same way, if I would simply put my trust in a God, who is big enough and loving enough to plan the timing on life’s trials, I wouldn’t be so inclined to worry about them, either. I could simply weather them, as we did the rain we had overnight and on the road, while enjoying the blessings He provides for me along the way, for I would rest calmly in the Truth that God’s timing is always perfect in everything.
What do you say? Shall we worry about God’s timing? Or shall we simply trust the God of the universe that the “rain” in our lives will always fall in the least-disruptive times?
I decided to believe this truth for that strange lump under my jaw. Sure enough, it was nothing to worry about, and life was once again “sunny”…
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart, Speech-Language Pathologist, mother of two, Author — “Aboard God’s Train — A Journey With God Through the Valley of Cancer”, Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, and Scriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, with Answers2Prayer Ministries. Follow Lyn on Twitter @lynchaffart.