Storms

My kids are afraid of storms. Well, and I am, too, a little. But it's mostly been Sis. As she'll tell you, we were stuck in a really scary storm in 2006 in our car. The kids literally screamed most of the way until we got to church. Once we got there, I told the kids to stay in the car until I (or someone else) opened the doors. But Sis panicked, and opened her door. She lost control of it, and it swung (swang? swinged?) around and hit my front door. Our pastor's son finally came out and got each kid one at a time. I was too afraid then to park the car in a regular spot, so I parked it (I drove a Suburban at the time) right next to the church, then ran in. It took my mom and three other ladies to get the church door opened for me. So, yeah, it was scary. And Sis can't get it out of her head every single time she sees a cloud.

And this year, Bub has become afraid of storms as well. It could be because his guided reading group just read a book about tornadoes. (duh!) But anyway, I actually took them to see a counselor about their fears this year. And the counselor, in terms I think they "got," explained to them how worry does NOTHING to stop the events they are worried about. He had us all try to "worry" a pen from falling to the ground after it started rolling down hill.

Believe it or not, our worries didn't stop the pen from falling!

So, as we're in the season of stormy weather (and facing our fears of storms), I have been thinking about other storms in our lives. And boy, does it ever feel like I and the people around me are facing some MAJOR storms these days!

Just in the last 6 weeks, I had my ruptured appendix. Yup, I dealt with that. Then we got a contract on our house (it's been on the market for some time now)... and the people wanted to close in two weeks! And did I mention I was barely post-op? So, OTHER PEOPLE (not me) started packing our house up. Then (long story short), the people backed out. So we had to UNPACK. In our own house. Then I contracted a bacterial infection that made me contagious (from being on antibiotics for so long). And I couldn't touch my family for 2 weeks (this was while we were unpacking, so OTHER PEOPLE did that, too). That's been my storm...

And others' storms:

There are marital storms going on around me

There are MAJOR health-related storms going on with those I love

And financial storms

And spiritual storms

Relationship storms

Family storms

BOOM! CRACK! The thunder & lightning of these storms are all around.

It can be so discouraging.

Except...

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

and

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 2 Corinthians 4:7-9

and

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalms 73:26

As discouraged as I've been lately (and I HAVE been discouraged), I'm comforted to remember that God's in control. And He's not surprised AT ALL about any of these storms. And not only that... He's got my back!

By that, I mean that I FIRMLY believe that God sees the Big Picture that I'm not able to see right now. Even looking back over the last few months, I can still see His light shining through some of these storms. While there are marital storms going on, I've seen marriages restored. While there are health storms going on, I've seen (and experienced) God's peace. When I have felt alone and afraid, God's sent some people along who really, really have comforted me.

So, while the storms are still there... I'm still choosing to NOT worry, and instead, praise my Creator, who can carry me through this and any storm.