by Jennifer Greene-Sullivan
Disclaimer: I will be using an illustrator for this book! I hope Joshua have time for yet another Jennifer Greene-Sullivan original for this year.
This week, I sat at my desk surrounded by numbers.
Receipts, columns, totals, and categories filled my day as I worked through the year-to-date expense report for our family business. It was slow, detailed work—the kind that requires focus I have to fight to keep. My mind wandered more than I would like to admit, drifting toward stories, ideas, and all the places I would rather be creatively.
But tucked in the middle of my week, something unexpected happened.
In the middle of red marks and graded papers, I found Liam’s drawings.
A bright little bee sitting gently in a flower. A butterfly tracing its path through the air with a dotted line behind it. They weren’t part of the assignment. They were simply… there. Quiet expressions of joy in the middle of something hard.
Sadly, I almost missed them.
I had been so focused on what wasn’t clicking for him in Language Arts that I nearly overlooked what was already blooming inside of him. His creativity. His perspective. His way of telling a story without ever writing a sentence, and just like that… something shifted in me.
What I first saw as distraction, I began to see as inspiration. That little bee became Joy. That wandering butterfly became Felicity, and right there, in the middle of spreadsheets and school struggles, a new story began to take shape.
Before the Rain Came
This new book was not planned.
It wasn’t outlined in a notebook or scheduled into my writing time. It came quietly, the way so many meaningful things do—through a moment I could have easily rushed past.
Joy and Felicity live in a garden that begins in abundance but slowly changes. The rain stops. The flowers fade. What was once easy becomes difficult.
And yet, the story is not about the rain.
It’s about what happens before it comes.
Learning to See Differently
As a mother, I found myself caught between two truths this week. I want Liam to grow, and I want him to succeed. Ultimately, I want him to grasp the concepts in front of him while feeling confident in his learning. I have desire to crush the joy that makes him who he is.
Because those drawings?
They weren’t a sign that he wasn’t learning. They were proof that he is—just in a way I have to slow down enough to understand, and isn’t that what the Lord does with me? He sees me in the middle of my resistance, my distraction, my frustration with things that feel hard. And instead of dismissing me, He gently redirects me. He shows me what I almost missed.
Growth.
Perspective.
Joy.
The Gift in the Middle
This new book, Before the Rain Came, is more than a story.
It is a reminder.
That sometimes the most meaningful ideas are not the ones we plan, but the ones we notice. That inspiration often comes wrapped in interruption. And that God, in His kindness, meets us right in the middle of our work, our frustration, and even our distraction.
All week, I thought I was just working on an expense report.
But God was writing something else.
A Quiet Thank You
So today, I am thankful.
Thankful for a little boy who draws bees and butterflies in the middle of his schoolwork. Thankful for a moment that slowed me down enough to see. And thankful for a God who continues to create through me, even when I think I am too busy to notice.
Sometimes, the story is already there. We just have to look up long enough to see it.
Reflection
What might you be overlooking in the middle of your busy or frustrating season? Ask God to help you see what He is growing, even when it doesn’t look like what you expected.
Challenge
Pause today and notice one small, unexpected thing that brings you joy. Write it down. Sit with it. You never know what it might become.
Prayer
Lord, thank You for meeting me in the middle of my work and my distractions. Help me to slow down and see what You are doing, even when it doesn’t look like what I planned. Teach me to value the quiet gifts hidden in ordinary moments. Amen.
Hashtags
#AgingEnglishMajor #ChristianWriter #MomLife #FaithInTheEveryday #InspiredByMyChild #JoyAndFelicity #BeforeTheRainCame #GodInTheDetails #CreativeCalling #GraceAndGrowth
The Aging English Major 