Severe Weather

The weather man had predicted severe thunderstorms and isolated tornadoes.  His prediction had been amazingly accurate.  I was driving home from school in very strong wind.  It had been raining an icy cold rain when the sun decided to break through the clouds.  More than being bright all over, it was almost like the clouds around the sun took on a white metallic sheen.  It was beautiful!  

But then I turned onto the state road that angles its way into our little town.  Dark clouds loomed ahead.  The farther I drove the more distant the shining clouds became.  In my rearview mirror I could see the brightness of the sun, ahead of me the sky was black.  The clouds were low and I felt like I was heading into a tunnel.   I kept watching ahead, then to the left, then to the right.  I was looking for any sign of a funnel cloud.  I didn’t want to be caught unaware.  I prayed silently for safety and God-speed home.  I didn’t want the girls to know I was frightened.  I wanted to turn the van around and head back to town.  Back to the shiny clouds behind me.  It seemed so foolish to drive straight into the gloom ahead.  But there was no way home but through the storm.

We DID arrive home safe and sound.  That night while we were eating supper, the tornado sirens went off but I was hardly frightened.  I was home and my protector/husband was with me.  I didn’t have to go it alone.

The next morning when I was mulling over the events of the previous day I thought how similar it is to life.  Sometimes there is just no way home but through the storm.  We can’t turn around and go back to the merriment of yesterday or even a half hour ago.  Sometimes we feel trapped by the things life sets in our path…like we are heading into a tunnel and there is no escape.  But one thing we can know; God is only a prayer away and He is waiting for us at home.  He is our shelter through the storm and our protector when the fierce winds blow.  You don’t have to go it alone.  Lean hard on him.