Cheri Strange, Christian Speaker and Author

     I’m listening to the drone of the remnants from tropical storm Hermine coming up to Texas from Mexico. Finally, the brown patches from the previous weeks of 100+ degree temps WITHOUT rain will begin to sprout new growth. It won’t take long, either. Within days the brown will fade from the surging new blades overcoming the dead patches. My yard will soon be lavishly green. Water is an amazing conduit for growth.

     Sometimes my life seems to be covered in brown patches. These are areas of my life that are highly affected by daily stress: trying to meet everyone’s needs, packing all the lunches, driving everyone where they need to be when they need to be there, completing the homework, and planning the birthday parties. Often there is just not enough of me to do it all and certainly not enough to do it all well.

     I have other patches of brown that result from neglect. I simply neglect to change my task-driven countenance and run over people in the process. I choose impatience and intolerance over being long suffering and forgiving.  I choose a sharp answer instead of gentleness.

     These brown patches of my life are in need of a soaking --- a refreshing pouring of the Holy Spirit by the truth of God’s word --- and a powerful downpour of healing and restoration that comes by spending time allowing God to deal with these patches.

     God calls himself “the Spring of Living Water” in Jeremiah 2:13 and Jesus promises to give us living water from this Spring in John 7:38 to transform our hearts and nurture the new growth He begins:

            “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘streams of living water will flow from within him,”

     What better conduit for my life to sprout new growth that will overcome the brown patches of selfishness? Surely the Originator of the spring and the Giver of the water in the spring can usher in a soaking to even my ugly brown patches of self.

     Let the downpour begin….