KONOMALA

One of the interesting things about living in this part of the world is that you start noticing things in creation that you might have missed before. Recently, we have been watching the fruit trees around us respond to this drought in a surprising way.

People here have always seemed to understand something about certain trees: they are convinced that when a tree is under stress, it actually produces more fruit. In normal times, people here will intentionally damage fruit trees a little bit. They might cut into them with a knife or put a nail into the trunk. It seems strange to intentionally hurt a tree that you want to grow, but the idea is that the stress causes the tree to respond by producing more fruit.

And right now, in the middle of this unusually long and fiery dry season, we are seeing that happen all around us. There are flowering trees around the community that have lost almost all of their leaves, but they are completely covered with flowers. Many of the orange and tangerine trees are producing a huge crop right now. The mango trees are looking like they may do the same.

It’s a strange picture. Everything is dry and stressed, yet there is still life and fruit being produced. In a very practical sense, it has been one of the ways God is providing food for people during this season. But it has also been a reminder of a spiritual reality that we see throughout Scripture. Hard seasons have a way of creating opportunities for growth that often don’t happen when everything is easy.

Very few of us naturally choose difficulty. We would all prefer the seasons where things feel predictable, where everyone is healthy, where relationships are easy, and where there are no major problems to solve. But God has always been able to use the difficult seasons of life to produce something deeper in His people. And we are seeing glimpses of that right now.

Practically speaking, this drought has created opportunities for people to work together in ways that have been encouraging. As a church, we have started a small garden project. We are marking out a new area of ground and trying to creatively solve some very practical problems. Using old hose, bamboo, and whatever resources we can find, we are working on a way to bring water from a nearby creek into the garden area. The hope is to create a simple drip irrigation system that will allow us to grow food as the drought continues into next year. It’s not some huge solution. We know there are limitations. But it is a chance to work together, serve one another, and think creatively about how we can care for people around us.

One of the unique things about this drought is that everyone is experiencing it together. In the past, many of the struggles within the church have been more individual. One family might be walking through one challenge while another family is facing something different. Those situations are still very real, but sometimes it can make it harder to feel like we are really walking together as God’s family … especially when the challenges and conflicts are directly with each other.

This drought has been different. Everyone understands the heat and hunger. Everyone understands the exhaustion. Everyone understands the uncertainty of wondering how bad it will actually get. And strangely, that shared struggle has created opportunities for a deeper togetherness. It has reminded us again that we actually need each other. That’s something we have been praying and talking about for a long time as a church: learning to see ourselves as a family, not just a collection of individuals who happen to meet together.

We’ve also had more opportunities to reconnect with friends in the community who are not a part of our regular church gatherings. As people work together for water, helping with gardens, and figuring out how to navigate this season, we’ve had chances to spend time with people we might not otherwise see very often. Hard times have a way of putting people together. And when people are together, there are opportunities for God to work.

We are continuing to see growth with the little group of people we’ve been spending time with an hour away. The group is small, but it has been encouraging to watch people begin to understand what it actually means to walk with Jesus. They are starting to recognize the difference between simply trying harder and actually depending on the Spirit who lives in us. They are seeing how God’s truth applies directly to their marriages, their parenting, their friendships, and the struggles they face every day. They are beginning to see that Jesus does not just offer forgiveness for the past. He offers a completely different way of living today. And that is the kind of fruit we are praying for.

Not just more activity. Not just more people involved in religious things. But lives that are genuinely being transformed as people learn who God is, who they are with Him, and how to walk with Him in every part of life.

Watching these trees can be an encouraging picture for us. The stress itself does not magically create something good. A tree does not produce fruit simply because it is suffering. But God has designed His creation in such a way that, under the right conditions, hardship can become the environment where something good grows. The same is true for us.

This drought is hard. It is hot. It is exhausting. It has created real needs and real challenges. But every day it is also creating opportunities. Opportunities to remember that God is our good Father. Opportunities to remember that our identity and hope are not dependent on comfortable circumstances. Opportunities to live with His Spirit who is actively working in us. Opportunities to live together as His family.

Keep Praying

Pray that our thoughts & decisions in all the moments would be founded on truth, sourced in life with God’s Spirit, and lived out in a loving life together.

Pray that we would actively engage with God & with each other as we all feel the ebbs and flows of emotions each day. We need God’s wisdom and creativity to know how to prepare well and manage the resources that He has given us.

Pray for rain. Pray for strong bodies (and motivation) to do the hard work of preparing new ground for planting food.

Pray that we would live each day together in a way that we can look back and see the unique ways that God worked in us during a hard stretch of time.