Barrenness

This illustration comes farm-fresh … all the way from Alaska. Tim Meyers is a farmer in Alaska, where the soil is rich, but frozen. Conventional wisdom says that farming where the ground never fully thaws is impossible—or at least impractical. But through savvy practices and hard work, Tim has become a permafrost farmer, growing organic food on his 17 acres of land, proving that even the most barren frozen land can be fruitful.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Sometimes in our lives, the ground feels frozen. But Tim's story reminds us that even in the most hostile conditions, life can find a way to break in. God is waiting to make even the permafrost fruitful. Will you let him?

Why didn't any changes occur or any love or help come when I accepted you as Lord and Savior?

—Matthew Murray, in a letter addressed to God that was found in his car after he shot and killed two people at a Youth With a Mission training center and then was himself killed by a security guard at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in December 2007

The summer drought of 2007 allowed scientists and archaeologists in Florida to look through a window into the state's past and uncover hidden treasures just below the surface of Lake Okeechobee.

Okeechobee is the nation's second largest lake. Because of the drought, the lake hit its lowest level on record. In some areas the shoreline receded more than a mile, creating areas of dry lakebed where historical artifacts have been uncovered, with some dating back 500 years or more.

Pottery shards, arrowheads, weaving tools, and pendants now lay on top of the dry ground, providing clues about the Native Americans that lived in the area hundreds of years ago. Evidence of the Florida tourism and fishing industries also lurk nearby, including a fishing trawler from 1904 that probably sank during a hurricane in 1928 and evidence of paddleboats that once ferried tourists around the area.

All these items have rested just beneath the surface of the water for many years. It took a drought to bring them out into the light of day again.

Spiritual droughts are not fun, to say the least. But the trials and moments of doubt that come during personal drought can reveal many things about us.