I wish I had had my camera last night. There was an awesome storm that moved through town. We could see the dark clouds, the lightning, even smell the rain. The winds picked up. The temperature dropped. Then, the rains came. It was beautiful!
Being a self-proclaimed Oklahoma native, I recently told my mother-in-love that one of the things I missed during the Spring season was the storms! The whole scenes that proceed the main event of a storm just do something to me! I have secretly and now publicly stated that I could easily be a storm-chaser!
We had just picked Libby up from a birthday party. We ran to the van through a light rain shower. Minutes later, the skies opened and the rains fell. Despite it being early evening the skies were black. On every direction all we could see was black, rain, lightning, wind. Even with the windshield wipers adjusted to full speed, we could barely see out the front window.
As my blood pressure elevated loving this most unexpected storm, my sweet Libby was ... freaking out! She doesn't remember storms like I do. Since this is not so common in Vienna, this was new and frightening. She kept asking us if rocks were gonna fall from the sky or if the lightning was going to hit our van.
One of the things we have been doing as a family in the last few weeks to help fight a spirit of bickering between the girls or put fear and stress in it's place is to begin singing. It's kind of comical, actually. I hear Libby raising her voice to precious Parker and I intervene with ... "OK Libby ... let's start singing." She looks at me like I'm a crazy person, listens to my very off-key voice sing a few bars of a praise song and before I know it she is joining in on the chorus. This has been our routine ... and go figure --- it has worked!
Now, back to the van ... and Libby's fear. Funny how God uses our kids to teach us ... and give wisdom. Through her fear she said, "OK guys ... let's start singing." We did. We sang at the top of our voices.
As we approached the bridge that crosses over into the 2nd district, near our home, we saw the tiniest ray of light struggling to reveal itself through the storm. Without any wise planning on my part, Addison begins to sing "Praise You in the Storm" by Casting Crowns.
Being a self-proclaimed Oklahoma native, I recently told my mother-in-love that one of the things I missed during the Spring season was the storms! The whole scenes that proceed the main event of a storm just do something to me! I have secretly and now publicly stated that I could easily be a storm-chaser!
We had just picked Libby up from a birthday party. We ran to the van through a light rain shower. Minutes later, the skies opened and the rains fell. Despite it being early evening the skies were black. On every direction all we could see was black, rain, lightning, wind. Even with the windshield wipers adjusted to full speed, we could barely see out the front window.
As my blood pressure elevated loving this most unexpected storm, my sweet Libby was ... freaking out! She doesn't remember storms like I do. Since this is not so common in Vienna, this was new and frightening. She kept asking us if rocks were gonna fall from the sky or if the lightning was going to hit our van.
One of the things we have been doing as a family in the last few weeks to help fight a spirit of bickering between the girls or put fear and stress in it's place is to begin singing. It's kind of comical, actually. I hear Libby raising her voice to precious Parker and I intervene with ... "OK Libby ... let's start singing." She looks at me like I'm a crazy person, listens to my very off-key voice sing a few bars of a praise song and before I know it she is joining in on the chorus. This has been our routine ... and go figure --- it has worked!
Now, back to the van ... and Libby's fear. Funny how God uses our kids to teach us ... and give wisdom. Through her fear she said, "OK guys ... let's start singing." We did. We sang at the top of our voices.
As we approached the bridge that crosses over into the 2nd district, near our home, we saw the tiniest ray of light struggling to reveal itself through the storm. Without any wise planning on my part, Addison begins to sing "Praise You in the Storm" by Casting Crowns.
[Chorus:]
And I'll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
And every tear I've cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm
The closer we neared our home, the more that tiny ray burst into a beam of light, then a wide spectrum across the sky, to a clear opening making the dark clouds seem so ... small. I stopped singing. I only had tiny tears to express my belief in the words to that song. It was a holy moment. It was holy because God himself ... creator of all things ... had spoken comfort to my own heart.
I wasn't afraid of the thunder storm like Libby ... but I have my own storm. Just like Libby, I have been afraid. Yet, in that moment, as creation was imitating life, God spoke. Fear is not an option. I was desiring Libby to trust me, to see the bigger picture, to trust that this Thunderstorm was not an obstacle. All she knew was fear. In that moment, my Father, was desiring me to trust Him, to see the bigger picture, to trust that this storm is not an obstacle.
I will praise Him in this storm!
