This weekend I went through three different kinds of weather. First, I got to sit on a balcony in Florida and enjoy a warm balmy breeze and a calm blue sea. Sea gulls and sandpipers stood in the sand, their feathers ruffling against the warm wind. A few early risers walked along the beach, bending now and then to search for perfect shells. Later that night, the wind picked up and the next morning, the sky was an unpredictable gray, the waters a bit more choppy and dark. A storm was rolling in off the gulf. By late afternoon, the wind roared across the beach, sending umbrellas flying and causing tourists to grab their towels to keep them warm. During the night, the storm hit, the sound of an angry, slashing rain warring with the crash of waves plummeting the coast. Sunday morning was cold and wet. On the trip home, we ran into snow flurries along the Interstate, and this after the first day of spring. The temperature was hovering in the high thirties. My vision of a calm sea and a warm sunshine seemed so far away. A beautiful day, a stormy night and a change in temperature that produced pretty flakes of falling snow. All in one weekend. Is it no wonder that Mother Nature is considered a woman? She has many moods and she is a constant surprise to us. I think this is a metaphor for how we stumble through life. Some days are calm and pleasant. Others are stormy and dark. Some days are chilly and amazing--how can each snowflake be so different and yet so beautiful when tossed together in a snow drift? The good news is that each day, regardless of the weather, is a chance to renew our souls and get through our own storms. I wonder, have you ever been caught in a real storm when you also had a storm of troubles in your life? How did you handle that situation?
5 comments:
In May, we had an Inland hurricaine to hit my region. My children were at school. My husband at work. The sky grew blacker than midnight in the middle of the day.
Almost every road was blocked because of downed power lines and trees and cell towers were bent like paperclips.
I can tell you I'll never forget the way the wind howled or seeing tree limbs sailing through the air above my roofline.
But as wicked as the outer storm was, it was nothing compared to the storm churning inside me. The helpless sensation of not being able to communicate with or reach (by road) my family. Not having any way to know if they were okay or not. That was worse of a storm than the winds that took buildings down. It uprooted thousands of massive trees and downed hundreds of miles of powerlines and snapped poles as if they were toothpicks.
The only thing I had to cling to was God and the choice to trust him or bend like the trees and let fear snap me. He granted peace in the midst of the storm. My family ended up okay but it was several LONG hours before we could even reach the school. But they were safe and the teachers prayed with them. I thank God for that, for the comfort of women and men who held my children close until the storm passed.
Thanks for this post, Lenora. It made me remember His faithfulness. Though He didn't stop the storm around me, He spoke peace into the one trying to churn my inside out emotionally.
So thankful for His peace.
Hugs
Cheryl
Thanks, Cheryl. I can only imagine how you felt. We always want our family near when we're going through a storm, both outside and inside our hearts, too.
I am going to Florida the first week in April and I hope that mother nature would be kind to my friend and I while checking the local scenery out. But, I know that God will make the weather how He wants it anyway! I also hope for a memory of walking on the beach just as good as yours was.
A few years ago my DH and I were pastoring a small church. It was a very difficult time. At that same time there were several tornadoes coming right at us. We would stand out in the yard and speak to them and command them to cease, just as Jesus did. Every time the tail would pop back up and they would dissipate!
Thank you Jesus!! He also led us out of the storm we were going through with the church as well!
Had many stormy days throughout my 70 years, but the Lord was always there and carried me through them as I called on Him. One real storm while on I-5 in Idaho, prayed we would make it safely home to Salem, Oregon. Commercial trucks blew over, must have been empty, things flying all different directions, and I didn't stop praying to the Lord and Praising Him until we were out of the storm.
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