The Million Dollar Rain

It has been raining in the Midwest.  Cats and dogs.   Pitchforks.   Tadpoles and frogs.  Everybody complains about the soggy weather—wishing it go away.

I remember a few years ago when the opposite was true.  Drought was a serious problem.  We country folks were desperate for rain.  Farmers.  Ranchers.  Gardeners.  God-fearin’ folks who depended on the Lord for rain.   People of faith and fortitude.

All our lives, we’ve heard the strange stories that Granny and Grandpa told us about the “olden days”.   Stories of miracles and answers to prayer.   Drenching rains that came just in time to save the crops.

We knew the stories were true.  We knew that Truth-is-stranger-than-fiction…That there were too many “non-coincidences” for them to be considered flukes.

Well, folks.  Today, I’m going to share a similar story. The only difference is this…it happened in modern times.  I call it the Miracle of the Million Dollar Rain.   You can believe it, folks, because it really happened.

Several years ago, everything was drying up in the drought.  The farmers’ crops were in jeopardy.   My own garden was pitiful.

It was July.  Hot.  Miserable.  It hadn’t rained in many weeks, and I was tired of watering my half-dead garden….

One day, I stepped out of the farmhouse and I looked up at the sky.  It seemed that the passing clouds were taunting us.  They held the rain that we so desperately needed, but they refused to release a drop onto the dry, cracked farmland.

There was no rain in the forecast…Just many more days of continued drought ahead of us.

Suddenly, I felt indignation rise up in me.  I realized that I didn’t have to tolerate this situation.  When Granny and Grandpa prayed for rain, the Lord always met their needs.  The Lord could do the same for us, today!

I knew what the Good Book says.  It says we shouldn’t fuss and fret.  We should take authority over these matters.

So I did.

I looked up at those clouds and I told them in no uncertain terms that I wanted two full inches of rain on our land.  And I wanted it on our neighbors’ farms, as well…!

(TWO inches!  Was I sane?  We hadn’t had a trace of rain in many weeks.)

I shouted at those clouds and told them that I wanted a nice drizzling rain…Not a crashing thunderstorm that would wash away the farmland.

It didn’t matter who heard me yelling at those clouds.  I hollered in front of our neighbors and God and everybody.   I told those clouds exactly what I wanted.

Then I thanked the Lord for answering my prayer.

I walked back into the house. I didn’t get down on my knees and pray for an hour.  I put it all in God’s hands and forgot about it, just like the Good Book says…. Like our Grannies and Grandpas would’ve done.

Well.  Nothing happened.

Not at first.  Hours passed.  I didn’t fuss…I didn’t even think about it.  I went to bed that night and slept soundly.

At 2 o’clock in the morning, something started happening…A steady drizzle began falling on our parched land. The skies dribbled for eight straight hours. And when the rain got up to TWO inches on the rain-gauge, it stopped abruptly.

We awakened to find a drenched landscape.  But the rain had only come down on a five-mile-radius of our acreage.  Neither Auburn nor Falls City—-the towns to the north and south of us—had received a single drop.

Our nearest farm neighbors were overjoyed.  They called it the Million Dollar Rain.  They rejoiced that their crops had been spared.  Miles of dry soybeans.  Acres of corn.  The rain had come just in time to save our crops.

All it took was desperation and a little old-fashioned faith.  Like the Old Timers had in their day.

I’ve got many more true “Miracle Stories” to tell.  In fact, if the Lord hadn’t intervened in my life many times, I wouldn’t be here.  I’d be in the graveyard….

But that’s another story.

We’ve run out of space, my Country Neighbors.  Take care, dear friends.  Just remember the importance of trusting in God…The value of faith.  And the incredible power of praying like your Granny and Grandpa.

It really works.

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