Thought for the Week: Water on a thirsty land

Rachel – 21st August 2026

For I will pour water on the thirsty land
And streams on the dry ground;
I will pour out my spirit on your offspring
And my blessing on your descendants
Isaiah 44:3

We’ve all been affected by the drought this summer, as lush grass turned to straw and dust, and plants that should do well in our climate shrivelled and died. Trees shed their fruit too soon in the struggle to survive. Crops were harvested early with half the usual yields. The very young and the very old suffered in the relentless heat, staying in their houses with the curtains closed against the fierce sun. And a couple of days ago, the rain came at last, and for once we are all delighted about it, savouring the freshness and the smell of wet earth.

There are times of drought spiritually as well, when we feel that the heavens are brass and God can’t hear. The best we can manage is to stay in our churches, hang on to what we have, cling for dear life to the traditions and patterns that we feel safe with.

In the Hebrides in the late 1940s two sisters, Peggy and Christine Smith, aged 84 and 82, one blind and the other crippled with arthritis, were so sad that no young people attended public worship at their church, that they began to pray about it, long hours on their knees. They were joined by others. They prayed that God would pour water on the thirsty and floods on the dry ground, and beginning with a trickle, in time a flood of people poured in to the church, moved by a power they couldn’t explain. People repented in the fields and byways, flocking to praise God and hungry to hear the Bible expounded. There was great joy and awe. The revival was intergenerational and people were drawn to attend church without being told to go.

Could it be that we are at the end of a dry season? Get praying! Could God be preparing the hearts of people we know to encounter him? Get praying!

It’s nearly a month ago now that Amy, Philip and myself, along with others in our Deanery, attended the Diocesan Conference at York University, entitled Called and Sent. One of our keynote speakers was Jill Duff, Bishop of Lancaster, who spoke about reaching those we currently don’t. She spoke prophetically about there being a river, a rising tide, the end of the dry season, bringing God’s lost sons and daughters home.

A couple of weeks ago in the Newsletter there was a link to a piece of music that Epiphany, an ensemble of classical musicians, composed for our deanery, represented by Nick Morgan (area Dean), Amy Batchelor (our children, youth and families worker), myself and Philip Reid (Church Warden Holy Trinity and trainee LLM). One of the prophetic words that came out of this was about water. Our Deanery is bounded by rivers and has one running through the middle – but there are also wells, filling up with living water that people can drink from.

Let’s be encouraged and seek God together.
Rachel (LLM)