Torrents

by Macy Johnson

“Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said,

streams of living water will flow from within him.”

(John 7:38 NIV)

Our wedding was held on Flag Day in Houston during the 1980 Heat Wave.

Somewhere between the church and reception hall, the clutch on my husband’s Jeep broke. We, the bride and groom, dripping with sweat from-head-to-toe, rode high in a tow truck to the reception, already in progress. Downtown midday traffic contributed to the delay of our appearance.

Along with the heat wave came a blistering drought. I leaned up against the tub’s tiles under the shower head in our tiny Texas apartment to get wet. Drips and drops of water were all we could hope for.

 “I withheld rain from you when the harvest was still three months away.

I sent rain on one town, but withheld it from another.

One field had rain; another had none and dried up.”

(Amos 4:7 NIV)

As I write this, our section of Georgia is in the middle of a late-summer drought. A friend told me that the lack of rain forced them to start feeding hay to their cows in June. Grass typically abundant until November’s first-frost, crunched under the herd’s feet, inedible.

Spiritual droughts are as deadly and destructive as physical ones. When I keep God’s blessings for myself and don’t release them to nourish others, I create a drought. I prevent others from experiencing the gush of the Holy Spirit’s life-giving water.

Oswald Chambers said, “If you believe in Jesus, you will find that God has nourished in you mighty torrents of blessing for others.”

I pray for the Holy Spirit to hit me with His outburst, pouring Himself through me, spilling onto everyone nearby.

I open the flood gates of my soul today. I hope you will, too!