The storm that wasn't...
/psalm 107:28-30
A big storm front was recently moving quickly into my area. The weather men (women) were warning us to prepare to take shelter...from up to 60 miles per hour winds and golf ball size hail. I'm a big thunderstorm lover but wasn't looking forward to the impending storm that was surely going to be the big one. I like mild storms - a few claps of thunder & some lightning to go with it - that move along quickly.
So I waited.
And waited.
And waited.
The storm was coming, I just knew it was.
It was already a torrential downpour with lots of loud thunder claps and bright streaks of lighting hitting close by.
Yep, the storm was coming! My cell phone was going off with a loud shrieking noise every so often warning of the severe weather quickly moving my way. I started to get more worked up with each weather alert that went off.
And I continued to work myself up, fearing the worst was on its way. Soon I had every possible worse case scenario running through my head (a tree falling on the house, a tornado hitting - even though the chances of that happening in Northern Michigan are next to none - power going out, no cell service, the list went on and on).
And I continued to wait...and work myself up.
And wait. And, yep, work myself up even more.
And wait. And work myself up some more.
Then I had to leave for an appointment! As I ran through the rain to my car and then proceeded to drive through the torrential downpour, I kept hoping I could 'out run' the storm.
But guess what?
That storm never came. It blew right over us. And from Facebook pictures and reports of those an hour away, I'm glad it did. There was a lot of damage to vehicles from the hail hitting. There were large trees blown down, a few roads shut down until crews could remove the debris.
As I drove back home from my appointment, I started to feel silly at how worked up I got and how easily I jumped to worst case scenarios. I kept thinking to myself about how I know the weather people have a job to do and have to report a storm front moving in and use a 'scare tactic'to get us to prepare for the worst (because the worst did come to some & could have come to my area). But so many times, I can't even count, those weather people worked us (well me anyway) up for a big bad storm...only to have it never come!
Then God ever so politely reminded me:
"Tishia, how many times do you work yourself up into a raging storm that ends up being nothing because you didn't have faith and trust in me?"
OUCH!
But it's so true. Just like the weather people creating 'panic', I do it all too often on my own. Heck, this was a perfect example of just what God was reminding me of. I immediately started thinking awful things, working myself up into a 'raging storm'...and never once stopping to pray or have faith that God would protect me.
Again, OUCH!
So the next time I feel like I'm turning something into a raging storm, I'm going to stop what I'm doing and go to God - my protector, my provider, the one who can calm the storms and bring me safely into Harbor.
The verse that I was nudged to read and meditate on:
“Lord, help!” they cried in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. He calmed the storm to a whisper and stilled the waves. What a blessing was that stillness as he brought them safely into harbor! -Psalm 107:28-30 NIV
Now it's your turn. Leave me a comment and let me know - have you waited for a raging storm (either physically or figuratively speaking) only to have it end up not being a storm at all?
tishia-lee
Written by Tishia Lee Tishia is the owner of this site (Faithful Devotions), its sister site Faithful Bloggers & the Faithful Bloggers Directory. She's been blogging and running her Virtual Assistant business since 2006. She gave her life to Jesus at 25 and loves sharing her story of hope, restoration and the messages God's created out of her messes. She's a single mom to one - a soon to be high school senior - who resides in lovely Northern Michigan but hopes to head south to the sunshine state one day.
