Be careful what you pray for; you might get it.''I don't believe people. We have rain. Believe me this is a good thing. Brisbane, our nearest major city, has been on water restrictions for two years ~ more or less. Our dams have been under 40%. Some towns actually ran dry & had no water. Farmers have been walking off their land. We have been in drought, folks ~ serious, serious drought.
Put it this way: when we moved here we wanted to put in a grey water system for our garden & an eco loo [Ditz hates eco loos!]. We had a tank. Our council put on the water, discouraged tanks, & refused point blank to allow either a grey water system or eco loos. Now they are talking detoxifying sewerage for drinking water!!! I have so many issues with this one I will only splutter furiously instead of making sense so it's best left alone. The short point, given the debacle over our mainland parking [DON'T get me started] is that I would trust our council just as far I I can throw them ~ & given I am 5'5'' & weigh about 7 1/2 stone that is not at all!
For years the church has been in prayer for the drought to be broken, for the rains to come & the dams to be filled. So on Sunday we got a massive storm. Hail, lightening, flash flooding. The power went out to something like 270 000 homes. Some people no longer have a home thanks to the structural damage caused by the storm. Others are living in a washing machine ~ the house is standing but the rain & wind's coming in. It has rained constantly all week, good, steady, heavy rain. We have duck ponds in the paddocks round about here. Some of our dams are nearing capacity. Others are spilling over & ~ PEOPLE ARE WHINGING!
No to minimise anyone's pain at losing mementos, or even the house, but I don't think people get what it means to run out of water. We lived on tank water for years. We were washing in a tea cup to save water. Clothing didn't get washed because drinking water was more important than being clean & smelling nice. Washing up got done once a day in the barest minimum of water in the sink. Waste water went on the garden. You don't want to know about the loo arrangements; they were primitive. I really appreciate having running water, hot running water at that.
People have forgotten to be grateful for what they have been given. The rain is an answer to prayer. I am grateful beyond belief. The storm missed us. We watched it circle round us & the south end certainly got hit badly but the rain fell. Even now the leaden skies are still heavy with their bounty. Water is precious beyond belief.
We are not the driest continent on earth. That dubious accolade goes to Antarctica but we are the second driest. Our desert is encroaching at something like 4 miles a year. We have strange algae growing in our river systems thanks to increased salination which is a direct result of lack of fresh water falling from the skies.
So I just want to go on record as saying, 'Thank you, God! Thank you for the rain, for the filling dams, for fresh water to drink, for the refreshing of our gardens & the answering of our prayers. Thank you!'
4 comments:
I agree, Thank you Lord. However we were on the wrong end of the island once again as we were blacked out from 3PM Sunday night to 12.30PM Monday. Sis stayed home as Mum was throwing up and I couldn't have coped on my own. Turns out, Mum has a chest infection.
Whats GoDaddy got to do with blogger?
People have forgotten to be grateful for what they have been given
I've been guilty of that lately, with respect to a few things.. short tempered and snappy because things aren't ready to move, etc -- good time to read this. Merci! ;-)
Wow. I've never experienced living in a true drought. A couple years ago we didn't get enough rain and crops were drying up. Our pond dried up. We watered the garden...a lot. Farmers had their irrigation systems running 24/7. Then we did have an area-wide rain storm and someone from our church talked about man's feeble attempts to keep things alive and then God sends the rain and within an hour billions and billions of gallons of water are spread upon the land. What a mighty God we serve! It was my little reminder of the blessings of rain and I haven't forgotten it. Since then, people have complained of times when we have gotten more rain and the hassle of it. I always say, "But remember when...?"
West Texas is on a pretty much permanent drought. The only thing that makes it work at all is the underground water table is very high - about 15 feet - so established trees do fine, and anyone can have a well to water grass and gardens. Some of the well water is too bad for livestock, but most will do for that. Something about a good soaking rain. Even living in England hasn't dampened my appreciation for it.
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