Growing in the Gospel: A 5-Day DevotionalSample

When the Rain Falls

As the old adage goes, May flowers result from April’s pelting showers. The air is crisp and pure, the blossoms bright and beautiful, only after days and nights of unrelenting drizzle.

J.R.R. Tolkien, in his essay “On Fairy Stories,” called this showers-before-flowers phenomenon a “eucatastrophe” or the “good catastrophe.” He writes that a eucatastrophe is essentially the part in a story where something terrible advances the plot toward a wonderful resolution. It’s the part when everyone laments that hope is lost. When the rain pours the hardest, roots are spreading, shoots sprouting. Something beautiful can grow from the soil of catastrophe. April showers bring May flowers.

All these things are true because God is at work in dark moments, days, and seasons. This is illustrated on Good Friday—the “darkest day” was terrible because Christ was crucified. But it was also a gift of grace. We see it when the Apostle Paul writes from prison in Philippians 1:12: “What has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.” Paul’s imprisonment was difficult. But it was also a place where the gospel took root, sprouted, and bloomed in the rain of persecution.

The logistics of sanctification will be different for each of us. In our hardest seasons of motherhood, some of us pray and cling to Scripture throughout the day more than ever before. Some of us intentionally engage our children with Bible verses, songs, and prayer. Some of us find new ways to serve our local church and community. Some of us see our sin and repent faster than we did before.

In the middle of these moments—while we’re still processing conflict in our hearts and homes, while we’re grieving, while we’re battling unforeseen challenges—we can trust that the showers of this season will bring fruitful blooms of Christlikeness for those who follow him.