I love a good storm. A storm that has lightning and thunder and pelting rain! I sleep like a baby in a storm like that and one is headed this way tonight!
This evening, I went to a cousin’s baby shower at our church. It was beautiful and the fellowship was wonderful! When we had everything cleaned up, my pastor’s wife and I, along with a friend turned off the lights, locked the door, and walked toward the parking lot. Suddenly we realized our pastor had the car at a parishioner’s house and we had no way home. Our friend told us she would take us to the home our pastor was at and so we hopped in her car and were on our way. It was fun because our friend had all sorts of fun stories to tell us about things that happened years ago in the “neighborhood”. One was when our music minister caught a criminal running from the sheriff and was a hero for the day. Other stories were not as dramatic, but still enjoyable! We talked about God and the things He had spoken to our hearts. It was a great night!!
We get to the home of our youth pastor where our senior pastor is visiting and we decide to stay and “visit” (in Texas that means sit and stay a while). He goes into his shop and starts handing out deer sausage he smoked himself. It smelled delicious! I don’t eat it but my husband will. It is a treat and a gift to him! As we sit in our lawn chairs we begin to see streaks of lightning light up the sky. Our youth pastor tells us two of the men in our church, who are linemen, were already called out and they were supposed to be off tomorrow. The storm is supposed to be a bad one.
As we drove home the lightning storm was still lighting up the sky. My pastor’s wife said, “Look at how gorgeous that is!” It was! All different colors began to shine with the lightning strikes. Purples, oranges, and yellows lit the sky everywhere the fingers of the lightning touched. “I love a lightning storm! They are gorgeous. You know the strikes aren’t coming toward the ground, just staying across the sky so they are safe to watch.” I responded. That is how storms in our lives are. Everything may sound loud, drama happening all around us, but we are safely kept in the hands of the Lord.
Storms also bring great things in our lives. Every pelt of rain is a drink to our soil. Every raindrop has the potential to bring forth new life! No matter who you are, where you are, or what occupation you are in, rain is necessary to your life, itself. Without the rain there would be a loss of food to eat and water to drink. Rain, and the lack of it, effects you more than you may realize. Storms bring growth!
In life’s storms the same thing happens. They stretch us. They strengthen us. They cause us to dig down deep in the word and to draw closer to God and His safe keeping! They build our faith to higher and higher levels! They produce spiritual fruit! They produce in us, just as the rain produces things in the earth’s soil! Then, when they are over, they give us a testimony and another reason to sing the praises of the glory of God! We can be assured, while the storm seems to rage in our lives, we are in God’s safe keeping!
Even in storms, you can enjoy God’s peace! You know you are just an observer of the trouble, but the carrier of the victory!
Have a wonderful night, my dear reader! May God’s richest blessings be yours! I will see you soon!!
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