I guess most of us got caught today by the severe storm that blew through the Dallas area without warning. No weather forecast, no sirens, no nothing. By the time anyone knew about it we were in the middle of it. Some of us sought shelter under bridges on the freeway, or pulled over and went to shopping centers. My husband was luckily near a church and was able to pull over and seek shelter there. Most of the area is without power. When this happens, we generally turn everything off and be still. And we look for our backup power, our battery packs, etc. There is a sequence of natural events here that mirror what we should do when storms unexpectedly attack our life.
1) Seek shelter. In a similar situation, David said, “In the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge until these calamities pass”. Psalms 57. Where do you seek refuge when storms come?
2) Be still. In the country when storms came, the old folks used to say, “child sit still, the Lord is moving”. In those same Psalms (Psalms 46) we are encouraged to “Be still, and know that I am God”. Sometimes we just need to be still. We wear ourselves out trying to “fix it”. We make ourselves sick worrying about it. It is very hard to do, but what we should do is just be still and let HIM move.
3) Find your battery pack. One of the first things I did when I realized it looked like we were going to be without power for awhile is to find my battery pack for my phone. Heaven forbid if we should lose all power on our phone! Gosh, what would we do? Well most of us have those little battery packs and chargers for just such an occasion. When storms come I find that I have to rely on past prayers answered, lessons learned in bible studies and sermons, and just opening up The Book to be reminded that He will never leave us nor forsake us. When storms come in your life, you’ve got to have a backup power source to rely on. Sometimes all you can do is fall on your knees and call on Him. But remember, you’ve probably been through storms before. Remember how He brought you through. Hold on to that.
It seems that storms can last forever. We keep praying and hoping and praying and hoping and it seems like no one is listening. Nothing changes. You get weary and lose hope. But that tiny string of faith keeps you holding on. Then just like that…..the sun comes out! Hallelujah!!