Jesus, Bring the Rain

To help raise money for our upcoming mission trips, a few friends and I held a yard sale last Saturday. Once again, I had the opportunity to witness first hand God's provision in unexpected ways.

For starters, we had several friends, family members and co-workers who donated items to the yard sale. And they donated a LOT of items. So much that my friend Aleah, who was hosting the yard sale at her house, could barely walk around her house in the days leading up to the sale. Her dining room was crammed full, much of her living room was stacked high with enough clothes to open a full-service boutique, and there were more items in the guest bedroom. To say that it was going to be a big yard sale is quite an understatement.

We prayed multiple times about every aspect of the sale, including good weather. The forecast called for rain late in the afternoon but Saturday morning was looking good. That morning we hauled all eight million and one items into the front yard and worked on getting them into some semblance of organization as car after car of shoppers began to arrive.

About an hour into the yard sale, much to our chagrin, down came the rain. We quickly uttered prayers that God would drive the rain away so as to not lose customers. And after a few minutes, the rain let up--only to return with a vengeance later. For most of our yard sale, we were huddled under umbrellas, shivering in the cold rain as we prayed desperately for the rain to go away.

Instead of stopping the rain (which He could have easily done, of course), God chose to do something different. In spite of pouring down rain, the customers not only stayed, but kept on coming. Kept on shopping. Even without umbrellas. Apparently cold, rainy, yucky weather wasn't enough to deter them from snagging some bargains. In fact, we were slammed with customers for most of the yard sale.

We ended up making a little more than $700 from our yard sale--our wet, rainy, cold yard sale. Let me add that this is more money than we've ever made at any yard sale, even on the most beautiful day.

While we would have much preferred to stay warm and dry and have gorgeous weather that day, we think that God gained even more glory by proving to us that even in the most unlikely of weather circumstances, He could still provide customers for us.

I was reminded of the chorus from the song "Jesus Bring the Rain" by Mercy Me:

Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings
You glory And I know there'll
be days When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to
praise You Jesus, bring the rain

As I said, once again God has proven His status as the Ultimate Provider in ALL circumstances.

And thanks to my cut from the yard sale and a couple of other contributions that have come in this week, I have now exceeded my fundraising goal for my mission trip! Or rather, God has exceeded it for me. He has continually provided for me through some unexpected means. To Him be the glory.