When You Can Do Nothing...

"I'm scared"

"I think I'm going to die..."

"My husband is at work and my baby and I are alone at home."

"The storm is supposed to be the largest ever to hit..."

These were all messages and texts I was receiving. Hurricane Matthew was getting stronger and stronger. The forecast was not looking good AT ALL.  I prayed and pleaded with God to spare my friends and my Florida town but the storm just kept coming. 

I called my father-in-law and asked him to go west but he was determined not to leave his 80-year-old brother behind.  I called other friends and urged them to get to a safe place, but some of them flat out refused.  My heart was breaking and I felt frozen with nothing I could offer.  My husband came home from work to find a wife with swollen eyes; when he saw me, he just put his arms around me and I wept uncontrollably.  He kept asking what was wrong, but I couldn't speak. 

When I finally settled down, he asked if someone had died and I replied "Not yet."  I was so emotional and so not trusting the Rock on Whom I could stand. 

Have you ever been in that place?  Have you been so overwhelmed by "the storm" that you shook in fear and cried in agony.  Maybe your storm is a broken relationship or a health diagnosis. 

Well, my storm just kept on coming; when it came near to my Florida town, it was like the Lord put His hand between the storm and the shore and protected the land. 

Now, I know that this isn't what happens in every storm.  Many times, He allows the storm to hit ...and hit hard.  The end of the story is not always like this one. 

God knew.  He knew the whole time, what was going to happen. ...He knew that my little town of friends was going to be OK. 

I walked away thinking.  "WOW, just wow. I spent a week of my life WASTED. I fretted and cried and worried and wasted that week.  Instead I could have prayed and left the burden with God.  I could have trusted in Him for the outcome. but instead I wasted that week."

Even if the outcome was going to be bad, God knew and God could/would have walked me through that circumstance. 

This is a very personal story and I thought about not sharing but it's been a lesson to me and I hope this encourages you to not do as I did. 

Sweet lady, your storm may have a very different face, but the One Who created the weather can control your storm.  He will walk you through it, He will hold you when you need to be held.  He will be there.  So, when you can do nothing else, pray.  Leave your burden at His feet and REST in the fact that He has got it.  It is under control. - Rejoicing in the Present