It was a hot African evening like all the rest of the African evenings. We lay in our bedrooms sweating and talking when all of a sudden the wind kicked in out of nowhere and shook the house. The roof rattled and clanged and the doors slammed closed from the force. Then came the patter on the tin roof that turned into a drum line performance with the rain pouring down. We ran outside to see lightning illuminating the dark sky and the bass crescendo of the thunder overhead. I didn’t think about anything else but running into the rain and being soaked in it. I spun around like I was 6 years old and I had no care in the world.
I started to sing. I didn’t know why, but Good Good Father popped into my head and the line that says, “You know just what we need before we say a word.” stuck in my head. He knows me. He knows my desires and my thoughts and my inmost being. He cares for me, He cares for every part of me, He cares for what I need and want. He knew that I needed the rain before even I knew.
I didn’t know until that moment how much I missed the rain, how much I missed home. It was just what I needed.
I then sang a song I had never sang before. It came to my mind as I prayed out in thanksgiving to the good good Father. The words were on my tongue before I could think of what would come next. Out of my mouth came these words,
“I will praise your name, for you are worthy, worthy is your name.
I will praise your will, for you are good, good is your will.
I will praise your ways, for you are holy, holy are your ways.
For you are worthy, for you are good, for you are holy,
I can help but praise your name.”
Those words fell out of my mouth and I just sat down in the mud and rain and cried. The tears started falling down my cheeks mixed with the rain as it fell upon me. I felt overcome by The Spirit, washed in His presence in a way that I had never been before. The Father was with me there in the African village, blessing me with His rain.
