I have always loved and been fascinated by weather. Twister is one of my favorite movies. I love watching documentaries on tornados and hurricanes. I love images of lightning storms or clouds or the sunshine. Some of my fondest memories across the span of my lifetime have to do with weather. Laying on the trampoline with my sister and our friends staring up at the sky and watching the clouds go by. Hearing the start of a hailstorm and grabbing my sister's hand and running to the lean-to with the aluminum roof to lay on the woodpile and listen to the hailstones banging on the metal roof. My husband and I would make rum and cokes and grab lawn chairs and a blanket and snuggle on the back porch, just under the eaves, and watch thunderstorms together, my heart skipping a beat with each flash of lightning, the echoes of the thunder ringing across the sky all around us. Sitting on the couch with little girls in my lap, watching giant snowflakes fall and accumulate on the back deck, a similar picture from when I was a little girl, sitting on the couch with my mama and watching the snow fall in the light of the large yard light.
There was a time period recently where I think I lost touch with my love of the weather. I had other, more important things passing by in my life, and I just didn't notice things much. But, as I have grown in my faith and in my relationship with my Heavenly Father, all of the beauty of nature has started to spring anew once again. I often find myself staring heavenward, looking at the amazing cloud formations. I stop and take pictures of the gorgeous sunrises that happen to peak over the tree line to the east of my home. I more deeply feel the warmth of the sunshine on sunshine-y days. I treasure the rainbow that arch their way across the skies. God's creation is incredible, and such a wonderful reminder of His power and His love for us.
I snapped the picture that is posted with this blog post while I was sitting at the Silverdale Waterfront. I often go there to sit and think and pray and just be still, catching my breath for just a moment in this busy life. I often meet my friend and prayer partner there and get to share the beauty of that place with someone I hold dear. Not to give away a secret treasure, but it is a beautiful setting in its own right. An almost 360 degree view of water and mountains, trees, and big, open skies. My heart is filled with peace and hope and love as I sit and watch my surroundings, and my faith is immersed in the beauty that is God's creation. This particular day, it was stormy. As I sat in my truck, eating a quick lunch between errands, the wind was buffeting my sturdy truck. The waves of the Inlet were crashing into the dock and onto the shore. And in a short time, there was a pounding rain that came flowing across the water straight onto my parking spot. The rain didn't really do much for my visibility of the water, but as I sat in my truck, I laid my head back and closed my eyes, listening to the sound of the beating rain on the roof of my truck. My heart was still and calm, listening for the messages that I often find in the weather. Suddenly, I opened my eyes and through the rain, there was a blinding light reflecting off of the water. I leaned forward and there, right in front of my truck in the water close to shore, a blue sky opening. Sun beams were streaming down out of the sky, and reflecting off of the water, filing my truck with warmth and joy. I leaned closer to my steering wheel and looked straight up, and it was like a tube running from the sky to the water below. Sunlight streaming, parting through the torrential rains that were all around. I grabbed my cell phone, and aiming it skyward, snapping the picture posted with this blog. And as my phone captured the sunshine through the storm clouds, the clouds swallowed up the blue skies and the beams were gone.
I sat there in awe, staring at the picture on my phone, wondering that had just really happened. And then, the message in the mess flowed into my heart and into my ears, and I knew exactly what Father God was trying to share with me. We all have storms. We all have stuff that we carry. We are all going through our own journeys filled with torrential rain and buffeting winds. Dark clouds threaten to swallow us whole and wipe out every glimmer of sunshine and light that we so desperately need. The clouds form around us, choking the life right out of us as we struggle with walk, or even stand, in the storm. We fear that we may blow away, sink beneath the waves, be enveloped by swirling and twirling of the confusion of the storms all around us. We feel alone and scared and desperate, waiting for the sunshine to return quickly.
This event that I witnessed? A message from our Heavenly Father. We are not alone. He does not abandon us in the storms of life. He is right there, just beneath the surface, waiting for us to cry to Him for help and admit that we cannot navigate through the storms on our own. All we need to do is muster enough strength to call out, "Father, help me!" and He will be there, parting the clouds, clearing the rain, calming the winds, showing you that there is still light and good and calm skies, but most importantly, that He is there beneath it all, waiting for us to realize that we cannot do the storms on our own.
I love weather! But, I also realize the power and the strength that weather can show. And I am getting much better at realizing that I cannot navigate the weather without my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I need Him guiding and guarding and protecting me always, through the literal storms, and the figurative storms that plague my life. There will always be another weather pattern coming on the horizon. It's up to you to decide if you are going to fear the weather, and try to make your own plan for getting through or surviving, or if you are going to admire that power and beauty of the weather, and know that you need someone far greater than yourself to help walk you through the storms in life. I know what I am choosing. I will continue to admire the clouds, snap pictures of the storms and the sunshine, watching thunderstorms with joyful anticipation, and watch Twister for the 5,000th time. Because I have grown so much in my faith and my trust in Father God, that I am not afraid of the storms. I know that He is right there beside me in them, walking me through, shielding me from the dangers, sheltering me from the pelting rain. Am I perfect in this? No. I forget that sometimes the storms of life are overwhelming, and it just all feels like too much. Friends that are ill. People in pain. Strangers hurting on the street corner. It's hard to witness this and sometimes understand that He has a plan. That He is in control of this weather. But, I strive everyday to simply Be Still, and Know that He is God! And with His help and His word, I will continue to grow and flourish in my faith so that one day, I will be able to deflect the nastiness of the storms all around and just know that He has it all under control. It is in His hands, and I am simply to trust in Him and admire the beauty in the storms.
Jeremiah 10:13 says, "When HE utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, And He causes the clouds to ascend from the end of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain, And brings out the wind from His storehouses." He is in control of it all. Every storm in our lives, He is in control of. He uses our storms to push us and to grow us and to make us uncomfortable, so that we run to Him for the shelter that He provides. So we come to trust in His every move. So we rely on Him for protection.
I am thankful for the beauty in the storms, and for the Father that loves and protects me through them all. Thank you, Father!
Amen!
No comments:
Post a Comment