Rain of God

This is a thought that came to me last night while I was
sitting in my bed getting ready to go to sleep. I did not want to get up so I
just typed it onto my Ipod touch.

It is just poring outside right now and it is supposed to
for the next couple of days. Earlier today someone pointed out to me that in
most places you go, after a rain it smells cleaner in the air. Not here in Afghanistan
though, it smells worse than it did before it started to rain. That made me
think about the rain of God. When it falls on a person for the first time does
that person become fully clean, or is it a lifelong process of continually
walking into the rain of God to be cleansed? The Bible talks about the aroma of
the heart and I have to ask myself what is my aroma to God? Does my life up to
this point exemplify a life that has been cleansed again and again so that the
very aroma of my heart is pleasing and acceptable to God. Or am I being the
stiff necked stubborn Christian who stinks to high heaven in my rebellion. I
hope to be the first and not the latter, and that my life will be an example to
others. Sometimes it is hard to be that person who stands out in the wild
tempest while everyone around you stands in the comfort and “safety”
of their self involved lives. What most people don’t realize is that God is in
tempest waiting for you to step out and find Him there. It is only through the
struggle of the storm that you will truly find Him and the cleansing He brings.
That the true protection and safety that they were seeking was out in the storm
all along. It can be lonely out there sometimes, but it is only after you walk
out into  the storm and put your trust in Him, that He leads you to the
gentle rain. You went through the storm and had everything stripped away, but
the gentle rain is where He washes you clean. It is not until you trust in Him
that you will find that cleansing rain. I think it is such an awesome and
amazing thing.