God reaching down...

First of all I would like to say that my brother in law and his family are doing OK. He called me last night to let me know that they are still not back home (they live outside Houston) but that they have talked to neighbors that say their house is still standing, with little damage and that the electricity in their neighborhood was back on yesterday. Praise the the Lord! Thanks for your prayers...

That being said, I've been giving "storms" a lot of thought lately. My family could tell you why. I HATE them. As a kid they scared me to death!!! All the little memories of crawling in the bathtub with my mom as a child, waiting out the tornadoes blowing by. Or all the sleepless nights due to streaky lightening and loud booming thunder. Why am I so afraid of them? I do have some theories, but that's another story, for another day. Truth is I'm better now, I guess that comes with being a mom. However, I will not lie... I watch the computer and TV like a hawk, when I know a storm is coming my way!

So, you can imagine this hurricane stuff has kind of bothered me just a little. It is probably a good thing I have been so busy, so that I didn't have time to dwell on the matter more. I'm just thankful my family is alright and that we didn't get as much of the "aftermath" of the hurricanes as they thought my little corner of the world would get! I love it when the weatherman is wrong! (About the bad weather!)

I was reading my dad's blog today: http://barnabasbrief.blogspot.com He was talking about the storms that have come our way and the control our Heavenly Father has on our lives. He mentioned the verse in Mark 4, that tells about Jesus calming the storm... That simple little story has always been a favorite of mine. To this storm fearing girl, Jesus having the power to calm a rainy war with the simple words of "be still!" has always left me in awe of his power.

That being said I was reminded of an "event" that happened to me, several years ago. My daughter was about five at the time. She was not feeling well, so I made an appointment to take her to the doctor. However, her doctor at the time was thirty minutes from our house. I was not too happy about this, because the weatherman had already called for bad weather for our area for that evening. But I prayed and put my "mama britches' on and said "I can do this!" We made it to the clinic fine, saw the doctor and got the medicine we needed. When we came out of the clinic the sky was still a beautiful blue... I got adventurous! I was more than halfway to the "big" town we go to to shop, and thought "I'll just run to town real quick and buy a few things, since we are this close."

NOT a good decision!!! When I came out of the super Walmart, dark clouds were everywhere! I was a nervous wreck and I had to drive the forty five minute drive home!!! (you see, I hydroplaned with my little one in the car one time, and since then hated driving in the rain.) We were headed out of town, when my little girl asked from the back seat, "Mommy, why are you crying?" I hadn't even realized that I was so nervous, that I had tears running down my face. I calmly told her that mommy was just a little scared. To which she responded; "I'll pray for you Mommy! That's what you do for me when I'm scared!" I can still hear her little prayer...

"Jesus, help my Mommy to not be scared. It's raining and we want to go HOME to Daddy. Can you stop the rain PLEASE!"

I remember smiling at the simplistic prayer. I remember thinking, "Oh baby, if only it were that simple." As we came around the mountains going home the rain started to let up, when all of a sudden there was an ecstatic Kayla in the backseat.

"Mommy, look! God heard me! He answered my prayer and is reaching down!"

I looked over and realized the dark clouds were all behind me and over to the side of us was the sun, glistening in the rain. It literally looked like the heavens were reaching down through the clouds. I wept. God HAD answered my little girl's prayer that day, while showing this Mommy that FAITH is simple. God is in control and what seems too hard or scary or out of our control can be calmed be a few simple words from the Heavenly Father!

I doubt my daughter remembers that moment, but believe me, this mom will never forget it. I learned something that day about a "child like" faith, while learning to put the steering wheel in the Lord's hands.

A tree fell on the house down the street from me, two weeks ago. In the house next door lives an elderly man, who goes to my church. I asked him if he was OK or if he was worried about the other trees around, falling on his house. He said his children wanted him to move, but he figured, that there is nowhere on this earth that is 100% safe and he might as well die from a tree falling on his house, as of anything... I pondered his words and realized his faith. God had control of this man's life... it was that simple.

So as we review the damage of past storms in our lives, and prepare for what lies ahead, I pray that we (including me) remember to simply ask God, with the faith of a child, to help us drive home...