The Storm

The weather man said the worst was over on Thursday around 5pm. At 6pm the electricity went off, the wind and rains picked up and the storm was in no way over. For the next 8 or so hours the winds howled continually. The noise through the trees sounded like a freight train coming and truly I thought we were going to suffer some major damage. The prior day when the storm and winds started a huge limb hit the deck and the house and small branches started to litter the yard. So with the winds Thursday even into Friday's early hours twice as hard as the prior winds I expected much more damage then we had. We played Mexican Train all evening Thursday to candle light. It was fun. I slept all night that night. Beside the damage to the gutter out back and the huge tree limb down on the deck, we also had a large branch hit the gutter by the front door and tear the gutter and a shingle. Saturday when we finally got out we found a crack in the windshield of my car. The yard is still littered with branches and leaves. The street is full of debris and mud and standing water and we have 3 threes uprooted, down and lying across the streets within 3 blocks of us. I hate any disruption to my life. I ain't happy about the mess in the yard or the street because I like everything is perfect and pristeen condition. Sounds to me like I have a problem that is to big for me to correct on my own. If God doesn't step in in accordance with my cries I am in deep dodo. Well, on the bright side...the sun is out and after church I am going to start on the yard and then take a walk up the mall. Life in the US has taken some major changes in the last year and since it happened so fast, I hear many haven't adjusted to it yet. Adjustment I find is getting harder the older I get. I keep reminding myself of what God says in His Word. As a follower of Christ, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. Is 40 says if I trust Him I will sprout wings and fly...imagine that...all things are possible for those who believe, another quote from Scripture.

Good Advice for White Knucklers

A good friend, appropriately named Joy, in a casual conversation said "so many of us are white knuckleing every trial in our life when surrender is the only answer." Another friend, Jenny, keeps looking at me and smiling as she says "It is what it is, Susan." In a song, on Francesca Battistelli's "My Paper Heart" CD Francesca sings "I feel like I'm falling and that's what it's like to believe." I've been "white knuckleing" it so long my knuckles are transparent. Anyway, when I was told I had some invaders in both my "girls," I found myself two nights later starting to lose it, feeling out of control and like, well, "I was falling." Finally, the encouragement of the Lord, the truth and directions in His Word kicked in. Finally. Did I say that...Finally. I "set my mind on things above (Jesus) not on things of the earth, I sang, hummed songs to encourage myself and to acknowledge God's care over my life. (Big sigh) I found victory in doing what God, who created every thing my puney little eyes could see, God, who healed me in 1991 from a crippling disease, Whose compassion in March and April of this year helped me to know His heart, I found peace was ruling in my heart where fear and anxiety had possessed me for years. Surrendering is so scary but bottom line, rather I "White Knuckle" it or surrender my will, it is "still what it is." It is my decision rather I am going to freefall with God as my parachute or if I am going to hold on and continue to ruin my health and mind by the damage fear and anxiety do. By the way, the "girls" are staying with me. This time I won - I didn't let worry and anxiety during those days of waiting steal all my strenth. I just went on with my daily routine reminding myself once of twice that "it is what it is" and "surrender" to God's will might feel like I am "falling uncontrollably, but Jesus has never failed me yet. Joy, Jenny, Francesca thanks for being the voice of the Lord to me - I fight the good fight of faith with your counsel.