This morning I woke up to many reminders of the hours before Katrina. Ike is a serious storm and it is being taken seriously by everyone here in Texas. Even though we live 70 miles from the Gulf (as opposed to where we were with Katrina - our home was right on the Gulf), we are still promised very strong winds and rain for many hours as Ike slowly lumbers to the North. I won't lie...I'm scared. This storm is serving to trigger some of my most vulnerable areas - areas that I have been trying so hard to deal with over the past year. So when I woke up this morning and was confronted with non-stop media coverage, when I saw that Jim Cantore from the Weather Channel was in Galveston (that's an inside joke among hurricane survivors...you can tell where the hurricane is coming because that's where you'll find Jim Cantore!), when I saw the lines were even longer at the gas pumps this morning, when I got an email from church asking where we were going to ride out the storm, when I got a call from my husband telling me the office would shut down at 1:00 today, that's when I went to my only constant source of comfort - my faithful Saviour, Jesus Christ. I also found myself singing a song that I've loved since I first heard it in college. These are the words:
When I think I'm going under, part the waters, Lord When I feel the waves around me, calm the sea When I cry for help, oh, hear me Lord and hold out Your hand Touch my life Still the raging storm in me.
Today I have that song on a CD, sung by a group named Selah. I love their voices and their music. The group was made up of a brother and sister and their friend from college. Today the sister is raising her family, so there is a new singer. I had the privilege of hearing them live two years ago on a cruise - of all places! The whole ship was filled with Christian women and all of the speakers and artists were Christian. It was so uplifting. Anyway, I tried to find the lyrics to the song, and I stumbled across this video. It is a somber reminder of 9/11 and the war. So many are vocal about their disdain for this war, but the bottom line is that we have thousands of our sons and daughters over there right now, ready to give their lives to defend us and our country. We owe them our honor and thanks. And we owe them our prayers. So please join with me in remembering all the families affected by 9/11, those affected by war, and those bracing themselves against Ike. Well, for some reason I can't post the video, so just click here to watch it:
I am a middle-aged woman born and raised in Michigan. I attended college in Chicago, Illinois where I spent many years trying to determine the course my life would take. Just when I thought I had everything all mapped out, God taught me an invaluable lesson...I AM NOT IN CONTROL!!! My life has been an interesting roller coaster ride - packed full of amazing highs and devastating lows - and just enough twists and turns to remind me of the One who is not only my Savior but also my Shepherd. Because of Him, this white-knuckled,breath-taking journey called life is also filled with His peace and presence and faithfulness!!! Come and join me on my journey...
One thing we may be sure of, however: For the believer all pain has meaning; all adversity is profitable. There is no question that adversity is difficult. It usually takes us by surprise and seems to strike where we are most vulnerable. To us it often appears completely senseless and irrational, but to God none of it is either senseless or irrational. He has a purpose in every pain He brings or allows in our lives. We can be sure that in some way He intends it for our profit and His glory. --Jerry Bridges
God is doing a greater work in us, and that can only come as we learn to trust Him no matter how dark the days and sleepless the nights. And it is only as we have been through the darkness with Him that what we know with our heads slides down into our hearts, and our hearts no longer demand answers. The “Why?” becomes unimportant when we believe that God can and will redeem the pain for our good and his glory. . . . When I put the sovereignty of God beside His unfailing love, my heart can rest. --Verdell Davis
Our circumstances are not an accurate reflection of God's goodness. Whether life is good or bad, God's goodness, rooted in His character, is the same. --Helen Grace Lescheid
All of us have wondered at times why God doesn't do more to fix our problems. But our human eyes often fail to see that God isn't rushing to change our circumstances because he is concerned with a much more serious problem -- our character. While you struggle with the woes of this world, God's main occupation is preparing you for the world to come. The focus of what God is doing in your life takes place in you, not around you. --Andy Stanley, in "Like A Rock"
There is no circumstance, no trouble, no testing, that can ever touch me until, first of all, it has gone past God and past Christ, right through to me. If it has come that far, it has come with a great purpose, which I may not understand at the moment. But I refuse to become panicky, as I lift up my eyes to Him and accept it as coming from the throne of God for some great purpose of blessing to my own heart. --Alan Redpath
The most extraordinary thing about the oyster is this: irritations get into his shell . . . . and when he cannot get rid of them, he uses the irritations to do the loveliest thing an oyster ever has the chance to do. If there are irritations in our lives today, there is only prescription: make a pearl . . . . And it takes faith and love to do it. --Harry Emerson Fosdick
What a difference it makes when a trial comes, to see in it not the hand of an avenger, but the loving discipline of a father and the gentle admonition of a mother! God would not have us feel even the shadow of His anger. Judgment hardens the spirit and God never wants to break the spirit of His obedient child, but to win us by His love and transform us by the gentleness. Beloved, let us ever look upon our trials in the tender light of the Father’s love. It is not the token of His displeasure, but the very pledge of His jealous love, a love so inexorable that it will not let us miss His holiest and best. --A. B. Simpson
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