Praying for Rain

Praying for Rain

I wish so much that you could see this painting in person! I just cannot find a good way to photograph it so that you get the feel of it. Having spent a long time on my easel, it has undergone so many changes and layers that you would probably never know that you have seen it before! (One of it's layers was on the video for Magenta, For Heaven's Sake.) It is a large painting with a lot to say. 

Philippians 4:4-7 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

NLA

36" x 48"

Painted with artist quality heavy-body acrylic paint on 1.5” deep gallery wrapped canvas

Click here to view via my website.

Here in northern Indiana, we are in a dry spell as far as weather is concerned. And to be honest, it is dry in a lot of other ways for many of us too. As you well know, the Covid situation is getting long and dry. The rioting is getting long and dry. Politics. "Right" versus "left". Masks. Our emotions and our prayers are getting long and dry. In every way, we need the rain. 

At one point as I worked on this one, I saw that I wanted to present the feel of our woods. If you have followed me for very long, then you know that I love walking in our woods. It is a place of refuge for me where I can more easily see the beauty of God's creation and where I can connect with Him in a different way. Can you see the light filtering through leaves and trees in the painting? 

It was not finished, though, even when I had the woods and the light, and I realized that the painting also needed rain. I painted Let It Rain! earlier this year, and many of the thoughts from that painting are in this one too. When I posted that one, a friend messaged me and asked it I would use that small painting almost like a study to paint a larger work. So that concept has been in the back of my mind.

Well, I am at the point in this post where I should try to pull my thoughts together and give a comforting or hopeful thought. But I cannot find the words today. I am hopeful, and the peace of God is guarding my heart and mind, but I cannot find a way to translate that out of paint and into proper words. Can you see it here? 

Praying for rain. 

Psalm 147:1 Praise the Lord!

For it is good to sing praises to our God;

    for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.

147:3 - 6 He heals the brokenhearted

    and binds up their wounds.

He determines the number of the stars;

    he gives to all of them their names.

Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;

    his understanding is beyond measure.

The Lord lifts up the humble;

    he casts the wicked to the ground.

147:8 He covers the heavens with clouds;

    he prepares rain for the earth;

    he makes grass grow on the hills.

147:11 but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,

    in those who hope in his steadfast love.