Read I Kings 19:3-18; II Chronicles 20:15
As we drove into the outskirts of Norman, Oklahoma, in June 1974, the wind was raging and the rain was pelting. Tornado sirens began to blare, and visibility became zero as rain and debris whirled in the raging wind. By God’s grace, my husband managed to pull off the highway to the side of the road in our blue Ford Torino with the small U-Haul trailer containing a crib, a toy chest, a few books, and clothes for two adults and a toddler still attached. There was nothing we could do but wait out the storm. Praise God for His mercy on us in the enduring of it!
Only the year before the same three of us were seated (the baby becoming a toddler in a highchair) around the dinner table. My husband and I both jumped up as we heard a roaring behind us, hurried to the door behind us, and saw a dark, dark cloud. About the same time, a call came through to my husband who served on the county rescue squad. A tornado was ravaging its way through Adair and Taylor counties. My husband and I quickly carried the port-a-crib, a quilt, and my rocking chair to our unfinished basement with instruction to me not to come out of the basement with our baby until he returned. What a long night it was, waiting out the storm and my husband’s safe return. I felt so helpless, so alone, with no way to communicate with anyone except God. He was with me.
As we gently and hopefully begin to ease out from beneath the storm of COVID-19 at the beginning of a beautiful summer, the U.S. is facing yet another storm raging around us, a storm even more damaging than physical disease. The storms keep coming.
In these past several months, we have battled many storms, some of which we may have been in together, others of which we faced alone in our loneliness, separated from those we love. But as we look to the future, we do so with hope, at the same time knowing that while we live, we will face storms, sometimes one right after another.
We face the days ahead, the bright ones as well as the dark ones, with hope because we know that God is with us. He always will be. He has never forsaken us. He never will.
Dearest Father, we are not discouraged because You are with us. You have never left us, even though the storms have swirled around us. You are faithful. You are holy. You are just. You are for us, not against us. We will continue to hope and trust in you, no matter what. Help us to stand firm. In the Name of Jesus, Amen!