Don't you just love the beautiful open-faced bloom of a pansy? A few mornings ago, I looked through our front window to admire my first planting effort of the season, colorful pansies in two pots at the edge of the porch. I had just planted them a few days ago, but they were wilting! How could this be? It was raining, and had poured down steadily all night long! I noticed the soaking wet sidewalk, but then realized that the wetness stopped a few inches from my flowers because of the overhang on the porch roof. Only a few inches between life and death! So close! And yet they would surely have died had I not moved them out into the life-sustaining rain.

I sensed the Lord reminding me of how much we need the cleansing, refreshing, life-giving "rain" of His Presence on a daily basis. (II Corinthians 3:18, "We all, with open face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed..."). How much we need to be watered by His Word (Ephesians 5:26, "That He might sanctify her with the washing of water by the Word"). How much we need to be sprinkled by His cleansing blood (Hebrews 10:22, "Let us draw near with a true heart...having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.").

Can you take some time today to get into His Presence, and lift your true heart and open face to Him, drinking in His Life and Sustenance? Therein lies our power; therein our anointing dwells. At His feet is the fulfillment of all that we desire in Him. He wants us to know Him, to be full of His Holy Spirit, to have "rivers of living water" flow through us out to others who are so thirsty for a drink of something that will satisfy their inner longings. His name is Jesus. He is drawing us; let us draw near to Him today.

Bonnie Mabon