Right now, I can hear rain falling on our neighbour’s galvanised iron roof. It is steady and soaking, penetrating deep into the soil, as I discovered yesterday when pulling out the many weeds that had emerged during our recent time away. Yes, this rain will cause them to grow more—but it will also refresh the plants and shrubs, giving them a wonderful new lease on life.
This was not the case in my sister’s garden in Bendigo, however, when we visited her a fortnight ago. There, they were longing for rain. The ground was dry and parched, with even the small native plants and shrubs struggling to survive. Each time those clouds appeared in the sky, all bets were on as to whether they would provide that much needed refreshment for the land and that top-up for their tanks.
Snowy Mts, Australia
On our way home, we decided to travel via the Alpine Way through Thredbo and Jindabyne. At one point, we saw something white and gleaming in the distance. Eventually, we discovered it was not snow we had glimpsed but huge water pipes, part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme. As well as providing around ten per cent of all electricity needs for New South Wales, this scheme supplies vital water to the farming industries of both inland New South Wales and Victoria. What a huge undertaking, to harness all that water and power on such a massive scale! Yet how important this venture has been, not only in providing that much-needed energy but also in bringing refreshment and life to our land.
Snowy Mts, Australia
Then in a spot not far away from these huge pipes, I discovered how those Snowy Mountain waterways can also provide another form of refreshment. As I stood on the banks of a beautiful, clear stream, listening as it tumbled and gurgled along over smooth stones, I could not help but relax inside and be so thankful for the beauty before me. God seemed so close, as if desiring to speak to me through it all. Then I remembered some favourite yet challenging verses from Psalm 42:
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
Nth-east Turkey
Over the years, whenever we sang a popular worship song based on that verse, I often felt I should stay silent. I would ask myself how much I honestly did pant and thirst for God, as the writers of this psalm did. Yet now when I put time aside to seek God, to listen to those streams of living water and to truly receive them in my spirit, how refreshing and life-giving it is! And perhaps it is that longing to be close to God that draws me to those beautiful streams in our Snowy Mountains—and elsewhere too. During a visit to Turkey some years ago, I can well remember sitting with a friend by the mountain stream pictured here and placing our peaches we planned to eat for lunch in the water to cool them. Then we simply sat and prayed together, enjoying God’s presence and receiving deep refreshment to our souls.
May you too remember to sit beside that stream of God’s living water often and harness all the refreshment God longs to give you in your life.
Jo-Anne Berthelsen's Blog 