Drought

We are experiencing a major drought here in Texas. Apparently it is the third worst in Texas, since the early 1900's when they started recording the data. We live in one of the really dark red portions on the map.

We can't really afford to water our yard every day. The ground is so dry, that when I do, the water literally runs off the top of the grass and onto the driveway. It's maddening. I think, why don't you let it soak in, you silly-crunchy-dry-brown grass? And I'll say, "You need this water because you are dying." I have literally said it aloud a couple of times, hoping it hears me.
Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia are experiencing their worst drought in 60 years. The major difference is that they live off the land. I live in a suburb and buy my groceries from HEB with woman who teach blind students how to make pie. I have no concept of what it really means to suffer in a drought. I have no idea of what it would look like for my family to become refugees because we have to move to where the food is. This image from the drought has stuck with me since I read that article, because well, they're a family. They are just trying to survive.

Roberto Schmidt / AFP - Getty Images

Sarura, left, her husband Ali, right and their six children look bewildered as they arrive at the Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kenya on Monday. Ali and his family had just finished an eight-day-journey to the camp from their home in Somalia. 

My pastor talked about the drought this weekend in relation to this passage from Scripture:

"For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven

and do not return there but water the earth,

making it bring forth and sprout,

giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;

it shall not return to me empty,

but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,

and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it." 

Isaiah 55:10-11

Although, I don't fully comprehend the magnitude of a drought since we get water from dammed up rivers, thanks to the industrialized country that we live in, it helped shed light on the image that is put forth in the above passage. God's Word does not return to Him empty. My dry, hard heart is softened with the reading of His Word. That's a promise. It's a mystery. It's faith. My pastor said it should be comforting to know that when it rains, all the ground has to do is receive it. It's just there, it didn't do anything to get the rain, but after time the rain begins to soak in and reach deeper. "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." Hebrews 4:12 

I watered the yard last night and watched the water trickle down to the concrete and couldn't help but think of it being wasted. But praise God He doesn't see it that way. Out of His abundant grace, He continues to pour out His life-giving Word on my heart and nourish my spirit. He is extravagant in His love for His people and He promises that his Word will always accomplish its intended purpose. I am going to continue reading His Word in faith, believing that He will accomplish His purpose in my life, whether I feel like it is or not. I am thanking Him for the promise of nourishment found in His life-giving Word. 
I also believe that He will accomplish His purpose in the world. Today I am praying for the displaced people in the Horn of Africa. I am praying for rain, for food, for protection, not only from drought, but also from the various wars that ravage that part of the continent. I am praying that our country will respond on behalf of the 6 million people who desperately need food and water.
And I am thanking Him for softening my heart to see this need and for the reminder of how blessed we are to live in a nation that takes for granted the water that is so plentiful despite a drought of historical proportions.