“Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.” —Mark 11:24

I’ve spent the last year praying harder for rain than any other time in my life. We experienced drought years in North Carolina but nothing like the drought here in California.

I know it won’t rain every time I pray for it (we’d be in trouble if it did). But I also believe the drought here will end. If it were up to me, it would end this year. God may have other plans. In the meantime, I’ll keep praying and believing.

As a result of God’s answers to my rain prayers lately, I’ve had a lot of rejoicing to do. We have gotten almost five inches of rain this month already. I’ll be honest: I’ve had a few days where I had to remind myself that I needed to rejoice and not mumble even a little about the timing of particular deluges (like the one at that half marathon I was just a few minutes into last fall).

Yesterday was one of those days. The last thing I wanted to do was take the dog out for a walk in the cold downpour. I waited as long as I could and finally reminded myself that I don’t mind being out in the rain. I also take some small pride that my dog is no sissy when it comes to weather. Plus, the rain gave me an excuse to pull out my galoshes, unused in more than a year.

It’s not that I couldn’t have worn the galoshes before now. It’s just that I haven’t. They sat in the garage, gathering cobwebs.

Yesterday morning, I wondered out loud to my husband about the possible number of black widow spiders that might have taken up residence inside the galoshes. He thought one—them being territorial and all—but I thought maybe one for each boot. So I put on a rubber glove, got a paper towel, and mashed all the way down into the toe of each galosh until I was sure anything living down in there would have gone on to its eternal reward.

As I was trooping through swirling streams of water in my galoshes, not altogether merrily, it struck me: keeping those galoshes is part of my sign that I believe God will hear and answer my prayers for rain.

I’ve lived long enough to know that God doesn’t answer all of our prayers the way we hope. But I like the idea of having my galoshes ready for each and every time God answers my prayers for rain. I think it’s the perfect reminder of what Mark 11:24 tells us about praying and believing God has answered already.

Are there ways you can get your galoshes ready?