Thank you for not minding my re-post on Sunday of one of my former "Tea Posts". It was written two (or was it three?) years ago on a Valentine's Day. :)
I do have so many things to write about but at the moment I find it hard to ponder. My heart is heavy as I have watched the news footage from Southern Indiana. My father was from there and my eldest brother lived in Salem for many years. It was in that area that the mother, father, and two children were all killed and then their little toddler who was found alive just passed away.
If you have never been there, it is some gorgeous country.
Being afraid of tornadoes and even Tornado Watches (let's not even talk about Warnings) has been an issue between God and me since childhood. We have lived through many near misses and I helped clean up a friend's house after the big Tornado outbreak of 1974. Most of the time I'm able to stay calm and just pray a lot.
I truly believe we all have areas where we have to lean on God for His strength to infuse our own in an "I believe, help my unbelief" kinda' way.
If anyone were to accuse me of using God as a crutch, I must admit I would look at the person in utter amazement and ask them, "Of course, don't you?!!!". :)
Picture: Christ Growing in Wisdom
10 comments:
Absolutely! I am so glad to be able to cling to him...
Deanna
Tornadoes...those poor people!! But you know, no area is completely safe from them...they have been spotted some in the West even. Quite a few years ago, one touched down beside my parents house in southern Idaho of all places...took out an old cottonwood tree that was over 100 years old, but left everything else alone...just that one tree was taken out in the whole area. My Mom said it sounded just like a train as it hit. Then some years later about a mile from there at my brother's place, 4 of us stood on their patio for a few hours watching as "fingers" went up and down, but never touched earth and finally the storm went on and disappated. So no place is entirely safe...but living in the East does have its challenges, for sure!! We live in an area that USUALLY only gets bad stuff around us, but not right here. Last year however was the terrible one that hit in our son's town about 40 minutes north of us. That is close enough!! We have to trust that GOD will guide our steps until our time here is finished. While it is so sad about the one family, yet, how wonderful that ALL 5 of them are together with the FATHER!! Just so hard to be the ones left.
Blessings, Elizabeth in NC
Good Morning, I enjoyed the Sunday re-post very much. So full of the words of life, rich with meaning -- they bear repeating very well.
We can find encouragement in the words of Paul, who like all of us had weaknesses -- that His strength is made perfect in my weakness. I take great comfort in reminding myself of this fact.
God bless your week.
I understand those "needing to lean on God" feelings. In Dec., while I was packing the house to move and join my husband at his new job, we had hurricane force winds which ripped shingles and a roof vent off our roof. That was a difficult challenge for me, especially since my husband was 1800 miles away. I got through it. I don't know how people with no faith get through those situations, I needed all of my faith to make it through. Everything is fine now, but we moved to hurricane country. LOL I do get a bit nervous still when the winds blow, but I know where to turn for strength.
We finally saw footage while sitting in the dr's office yesterday morning. How devastating and sad. We had friends calling from NY and Scotland to check on us and I felt badly that I wasn't up on the news to understand a bit more of why they were calling (I had heard, just not seen). Now I know....
I understand your fear. I also helped remove debris after a tornado destroyed a friend's house in 1985. I also had 2 co-workers lose their homes in another tornado. My parents had a narrow escape of their own while driving one afternoon. Tornadoes are fascinating and terrifying at the same time and I get a queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach when there is a tornado watch, especially during the night.
Those are the times I realize I have no control, that God is in complete control and He can handle my fear and I can trust him
Thank you for this post! I was born & raised in Joplin, MO and now living in Kansas. After May 22nd its hard to quell the fear of Springtime weather. Its encouraging to see other Christians struggling with this as well. Love your blog!
Here in Central KY it was very scary Friday. Most of the damage & destruction shown on the national media is only a small part of what we see locally.
We were spared this time and only God can take the credit. Tornadoes terrify me and it is my one big "I believe, help my unbelief" issue. I can soooo relate to your feelings, Brenda!
Yes indeed God IS my crutch--better Him than drugs or alcohol. It seems that those who do not depend on Him, often - or usually turn to alcohol, drugs or other addictions to numb themselves from the pain of life. I totally get that! I don't intend to sound arrogant that I am above that, because without faith, I would be in that place myself I am sure.
Dee from Tennessee
My mother and sis in law survived an EF5 tornado last April in a lil itty bitty town in AL - Phil Campbell Al. Town only has about 1100 ppl and almost 30 were killed. ONLY by God's grace, did they survive . (And our adjoining county here in Tn had 7 killed that same night of destruction.) During this last "event," my husband was visiting his mother in Al where tornado watches were issued again and our county here in TN had tornado warnings.....I 've never been here "alone" with a tornado warning - but of course Christ was with me. I did do this -- put on boots (cause I saw after last spring all the nails, etc), blue jeans and a heavy carhart coat and curled up in them and prayed they would protect me from the debris. Silly I guess...my husband kept calling me back every few minutes wanting to know where the tornado was located in our county, etc... I will share something with you that a lot of ppl may have not thought about it-- when all those ppl got killed in that little town in Al - so so many of them worked at min. wage jobs, etc. - didn't have ins. , etc. -- they literally survivied with the clothes on their backs. Here's the "thing"-- those with multiple deaths were responsible for multiple funeral expenses. Not only have they lost everything and I mean according to the chief of police whom I talked to - they lost EVERYTHING - they are then responsibe for thousands of dollars for funerals. Not to even mention the emotional toll. It is heartshattering beyond words. Sorry for writing so much -- but we will NEVER view tornado watches in the same perspective again. NEVER. And what made it worse -- within a mere hours, looters were there in that lil town - a LOT from out of state - can you imagine?!! I didn't realize that ppl acutally "follow" tragedies and then take off to go loot and steal. I followed so many fb pages following the tornado outbreak and MONTHS and MONTHS later...so so many ppl were living in tents, lots of elderly -- and one HUGE need was mosquito repellant and plastic tubs for them to store anything they could salvage. Sorry -- it's still so heavy in my heart from last April much less it all starting again. Prayers for all, prayers for all.
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