This morning a Missouri thunderstorm hit the neighborhood. At 3:30 a.m. I awoke to hear the impact of 60-mile hour winds hitting our front porch. Halloween pumpkins tumbled out to the street. Corn stalks put out for decoration snapped and scattered around the yard. The colorful leaves on the trees blanketed the yards.
I knew the storm was coming. The weatherman had warned us at 9:30 the night before. To prepare we put away the summer umbrella from the deck. We set our cell phones for back up to the electric alarm should power go out in the house. Little else was left to do though. We could either go to bed or stay up and wait for the storm to hit.
We went to bed. We rested. My family rested even through the storm. No amount of lightning or thunder or pounding rain on the windows appeared to be able to stir them from their rest.
How much like life this is! We know life is messy. We live in a fallen world, a world containing disease, evil, sadness, storms.
How do we prepare for these storms during the In Between Times? How do we rest knowing they are coming?
I find much like real storms we have choices as we prepare. Like the cell phone precaution we took for a possible power outage, we can make sure we have open communication with God at all times through daily prayer. Talking with God throughout the day keeps the power of His reality and relationship in our lives.
Listening to God also keep the relationship and power alive. No one likes a friend who only talks to you but never listens when you want to share. We all dread the blank expression of the listener or the wandering eyes looking around for someone else he or she knows when we start to tell our experiences. I am sure God feels the same way. When it is His turn to talk are we truly ready and focused on listening? Are we reading His letter to us daily? (The Bible)
If we are talking to God and listening to Him, then we can do as my family did, rest. Truly rest in His love and assurance that He is with us through the storms, and the victory is ours in heaven.
"Since ancient times, no one has heard, no ear perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you who acts on behalf of His people who WAIT on Him." Isaiah God is acting on our behalf because He loves us....during and inbetween the storms.
As I look out there in my backyard I see God everywhere. I see Him in the leaves that not long ago were green, but now golden yellow.. some of which have already left the branches. I see how His mighty plan is at work. I see how some things must fade away to make room for something new.I see how each season , though different,holds tremendous beauty. I see God in the Blue Jay that jumps across the railing of my deck. His feathers are creatively placed in such a way to make beautiful patterns on his body for our enjoyment. I see his plump little belly and know he has been well fed. Though the temperatures dropped quite low last night, he is alive and well as the warm, morning sun shimmers off his brilliant black and blue feathers and the crest on his head raises up and down as he notices the movement around him.I see God in the wind that carries the little seeds across the yard to their winter resting place where they will become buried by the fallen leaves and will rest until that perfect warm spring day to burst open the dirt and begin their new growth. .There is a squirrel with his cheeks packed full running up to his winter lodge as he prepares for his inBetween season.
ReplyDeleteGod orchestrates all events even the inBetween times! He knows how to do things!! We need to stay in communication with Him at all times ,accepting that His Way is better than ours. We need not figure out what is happening and why. He has everything under control.Be at peace as the changes take place or as the storm passes.Listen as He speaks to us in holy whispers. Listen to His words of life..peace..love.
If you don't think He is with us and in charge ,take the time to look out your window. I mean really LOOK out your window at what He can do and then give thanks to Him for being there before , inBetween and forever .
Tabby... your response/post is so beautiful...such wonderful descriptions...and so true....praise God for His creation that reflects His power and love...keep sharing...you inspire me in my own walk with God....
ReplyDeleteTabby, I thank God you led me to this blog, this place where I feel not alone in this world. I relate so much to what you and Gretchen have said. I relate so much to those In Between times, those times of waiting... waiting for God to show me the way in so many things I face. Yet, in the waiting, in those 'InBetween' times, especially this year since about April, those In Between times have been the times I've found so many blessings in the little things in life.
ReplyDeleteI had just written a long response to the previous blog - - I was so inspired.. It ended up being too long and wasn't accepted! No matter how I tried to shorten it, it was too long.. I put my heart and soul into it! Now I'm wiped out, my brain has come to a stop. Soooo, I'm gonna have to wait for my brain (and fingers!) to recharge. In the meantime, I think I'll go for a little drive and enjoy the pretty weather we have today. This time of year is a waiting time for me... waiting for winter and SNOW!! I usually can't wait for fall to be done with and winter to get here. But,it's different this year. I have truly loved this fall, the rustle of the leaves that have turned brown and crispy, the smell of the ground as other leaves have laid to rest atop the fading grass, painting the ground with their reds, golds, oranges, yellows. I love hearing the leaves skittering across the road. ....the cool, crisp air. God is truly an amazing artist!
Oh, dakwrite is connected with a blog I've been working on for several months, i just haven't totally pulled it together yet. dakwrite is me -- Debbie K!!
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