ROSES IN THE RAIN
There are certain flowers that do not open their beauty until the rain begins to fall. They wait for the clouds. They need the storm. The petals may tremble under the weight of the water, but the fragrance they release could never come from sunshine alone. Such is the life of every believer who walks with Christ through the sorrows and struggles of this world. The downpour that the world calls destruction becomes the very thing that draws out the beauty of His grace within us. Heaven’s garden grows brightest when watered by tears.
The path of the Christian was never meant to be smooth or sheltered. Jesus said plainly that “in this world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Those words are not a warning meant to frighten us. They are a promise meant to steady us. We are not asked to suffer alone. The One who overcame the storm walks with us through every drop of rain. He does not always calm the wind, but He always stands beside His child in the middle of it. And the sound of His voice in the storm is worth more than a thousand calm days.
Every disciple must carry a cross. Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24). The cross is not a decoration we wear. It is a daily dying to self, a willingness to suffer for the sake of His love. The thorns of this world may pierce deeply, but they cannot touch the soul that abides in Him. When we suffer because we belong to Christ, we share in His fellowship. And that fellowship turns even pain into praise.
“All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12). The rain of rejection and misunderstanding will fall upon every true follower of Christ. Yet every drop of it is caught in His hands. Not one tear is wasted. He uses it all to water the roots of faith. The early church grew strong through the storms of persecution. They sang in prisons, rejoiced in tribulation, and found that the fire which threatened to destroy them only refined them into pure gold. What was true then is true now. The same grace that strengthened them still sustains us.
Suffering is the classroom of spiritual maturity. Faith that is never tested remains shallow. It is in the furnace of affliction that trust becomes unshakable. Just as muscles are strengthened by resistance, so our faith grows through hardship. When a weightlifter trains, he does not grow weaker by lifting weight. He tears the muscle so that it might heal stronger than before. The same law of growth applies to the soul. The trials that seem to break us are often God’s tools to build us. Every tear shed in faith becomes a seed from which endurance blossoms.
The rose cannot choose the weather. It simply receives what the Gardener sends. When the rain falls, its petals bow, but its roots drink deeply. And after the storm passes, it stands taller and blooms brighter. So it is with the believer. When suffering bends us low, grace runs deeper into our hearts. We learn to draw strength not from what we see but from who He is. Pain becomes a pathway to deeper love. The fragrance of Christ is released most fully from the broken heart.
Do not measure your faith by how often you fall. Measure it by how you rise. The righteous man may fall seven times, but he rises again (Proverbs 24:16). Every stumble, every scar, every tear becomes a testimony to the faithfulness of God. When the world sees you stand again after the rain, they will know that something divine lives within you. Your endurance preaches louder than your ease. The darkest nights often produce the brightest dawns.
The rain will come. Sometimes softly, sometimes in torrents that flood the heart. But do not fear it. The same Lord who sends the rain also commands the rainbow. His love is not absent in the storm. It is most active there. He is shaping something eternal in you, something that will outlast every sorrow. For even now, “our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17).
So let the rain fall. Let it wash away pride and self-reliance. Let it water the seed of faith until it blooms into patience, humility, and hope. You are not forgotten in the downpour. You are being refined in the rain. The fragrance of your worship, rising from a heart that still trusts, fills the courts of Heaven. The same Savior who was anointed with perfume before His suffering now anoints you with His presence in yours. And when the clouds part at last, you will find that the rose He planted in your heart has grown through every drop.
Bryan Dewayne Dunaway
