in the storms of our lives...

There is a saying that goes, "don't tell God how big your storm is, tell your storm how big God is!"

I am afraid of storms. Have been ever since I was a young girl. I remember when I was about 5 or 6, being brave enough one night to not cry, to not be afraid, as I watched the lightning flicker outside my bedroom window. That was short lived, however; several years later we moved to San Jose, California. I remember asking my dad, "do they get storms there?" His reply was "probably not nearly as many as we saw in Minnesota." That was OK by me, until a few years later, when, due to circumstances, we moved back to Minnesota. Our first night back....a thunderstorm greeted us. Guess I just couldn't win, eh?

Last night, around dinner time, the sky took on  a blackish hue. I scanned the weather radar and noticed that a whopper of a storm was only hours away. Sure enough, near constant lightning and thunder barreled in to our neighborhood, sirens went off and winds over 70 mph swept through my little town. My husband and I sat on the couch, looking out our picture window. In the flicker of the lightning, our blue spruce tree swayed in the wind. I prayed that it would not come through our house! Within 30 minutes, the storm blew through town and all fell silent once more. Whew!

Yet the next morning, after checking on family and neighbors to make sure all was safe, I got a phone call from a farmer in a town 18 miles away. His crops were not so fortunate and his irrigation systems were twisted and scattered about...so much damage. My once sunny outlook took a sour turn--this farmer, who is 69 years old and not in the best of health, has his farm on the auction block. He wanted to spend the time he has left in peaceful retirement, not  worrying about crops or  storms...but rather, just to enjoy each day as it comes. Now he has this to deal with also.

Huge sigh.

Storms. We all have them. Not just the literal kind that can take a roof off a house or twist a tree like a pipe cleaner, but also the kind that can bring us to our knees in other ways: cancer, job loss, illness of other sorts, death and dying. It seems our world always has something going on politically as well. If we could, we would probably all seek safe shelter in the basement...coming out only when the sun shines!

Well, I tell you, God is our Shelter! and His Son shines no matter what! As I sat on that couch last night, watching that spruce tree and praying, in the lightning's glow I could see the very massive size of that tree as it swayed, but also remained firm in the ground. That is a metaphor for us as well. We may sway in storms, but because of our firm hold on God, knowing He will steady us, we should not falter. We remain upright. Oh yes, we may lose a branch here or a limb there...we will have scars to show for those storms, but in the end, we will also be a living testimony to the battles that have bruised us, but not brought us down!

Tell God about your storm...oh yes...tell Him! But also, tell your storm just how much bigger God is...because with God, you will always have a secure future!