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It was predicted to be the biggest storm to hit the Pacific Northwest since the Columbus Day storm of 1962.
We have only been in our current home for a little over 2 years, and so we were not really sure what to expect. For the most part, the weather the last few years has been rather mild and calm. Although, we have lost power in a few wind storms over the 2 years while here, we didn’t know what to plan for.
We had not weathered this kind of storm in this house before. In our old home of 18 years, we knew what to expect, we had weathered many things and had plans for everything. But here, in this new place, in this new season, we just didn’t know what would happen.
So we planned and prepared the best we could.
Then we waited for the storm to come.
The biggest storm to hit this area in over 50 years .. was actually the storm that never came.
Do you ever build things up in your mind and think the worst will happen?
Do you ever fear the unknown?
Oh, I have …
In fact, I used to all the time. I would think through all the possible situations and the “what if’s” and come up with a plan for the worst my mind could imagine.
Oh, and believe me, I have a pretty vivid imagination. Always have, always will, and yet I feel as if I have finally let go of fear and needing to figure things out and released them to God. It’s as if I have finally surrender my thoughts, my will, and my way to the Lord. Not that I do it perfectly every time, but for the most part, I can say, in the midst of the storm, or challenging situations, I have learned roll with it. It’s as if I finally realized that He really means what He says in his Word and I could trust Him to take care of me, and the situation. After all, His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts….
Tweet ThisSo what happened with this big storm ?
Yeah, well it didn’t exactly play out the way it was predicted. It changed course, went around us and caused very minimal damage. In fact, that was the very thing many in this area were praying for. Yet, when it actually happened, many were shocked, in awe, and laughing that the weather forecasters got it wrong.
As I was scrolling through Social Media and looking at the weather reports the next day, to see what people were saying and how the rest of the region fared from the storm, I felt as if the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart.
Everyone on social media was blaming and pointing fingers at the “educated” meteorologists who got it all wrong. People were laughing and making memes, which were quite funny, and yet we missed the point all together. No one was to blame for getting it wrong? We hadn’t prepared for nothing. In fact, the storm did happen, just not in the way we all expected.
So what happened? What did the Spirit speak to me? Simply that, this is what we prayed for, that we had been asking for the storm to go around us, to pass us by, to cause the least amount of damage, and so God heard our collective cries and He moved His hand.
After all, He directs the winds and the waves.
One particular article I read, said that all the meteorologist missed that there were 2 eyes to the storm. By missing that major piece, they missed that when they converged upon each other, then things could change. In the article, the writer compared the two separate eyes of the storm to two siblings wrestling for space in a room. One was going to overcome the other, it was just a matter of which one.
I felt like God was impressing upon my heart that the storm, was an indication of what is happening in the heavenlies. There is a war being waged between good and evil. There is a battle … one side is bent on destruction, the other restoration. It has been this way since the Lucifer and his followers were thrown out of Heaven and we have seen it here on the earth since the fall of man. It began in the garden as recorded Genesis.
Daniel Chapter 10 talks about it as well as Ephesians 6.
We are in a battle, two spiritual forces wrestling in the heavenlies, and our prayers, our unity, our willingness to humble ourselves will affect the outcome.
We are at a pivotal place in our country as we enter into the final stage of the election for who will be the next president. This is not a political post, this is simple a fact. I see the Christian community divided over who is the right individual for the job.
I said to God, “I honestly, feel like I am choosing between the lesser of evils. I feel like I don’t care for any of the choices.” So, instead of being fearful and upset, I earnestly began to seek God.
I know what His Word says, and so I stand upon the truths and find comfort in that.
2 Chronicles 7:14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
As I have been praying over whom God would have me vote for, I felt Him whisper to my heart. Who has a heart that will allow me to move, no matter their past, no matter what you see now…. Who is more likely to allow me to soften and mold the hard, dry, desolate places?
Pharaoh (Exodus 9:35) had a hard heart and his heart never changed toward God and the Israelite’s. It stayed hard to the very end and he even went chasing after God’s people after he let them go.
Then we see another Pharaoh during Joseph’s time and King Nebuchadnezzar during Daniel’s time. Both had hard hearts, both did not believe in God, and yet, we see God moved upon their hearts. God was able to accomplish things through these men and even to some degree softened their hearts to allow His (God’s) Kingdom purposes to prevail despite who the kings and rulers were.
No, I am not going to use my platform to take a stand and endorse one person over the other.
No, I am not going to tell you who I believe God is asking for me to vote for.
You have a choice, I have a choice, and we all have to answer to God for the choices we make. Not just in politics, but in every area of life.
I simply am asking you to press into the heart of the Father. Ask Him to speak to you. Ask Him to show you whose heart has the ability to soften and be shaped regardless of what we see in the natural.
Set aside your thoughts, your desires, and your fears. Set aside everything and simply pray, and earnestly seek God. I know, it’s a hard thing to do to set aside your opinions, the things you are passionate about, your hurts, your pains and take off the lenses you look through and ask God to give you His spiritual lenses.
Look to God and His Word.
The Storms of life are going to come at us, it’s where our focus is and WHO we put our trust in that will help us overcome them.
Is your FOCUS on God? Or what you see, sense, and feel in the natural?
Is your TRUST in the Lord? Or is it in man?
What storm are you facing today?
King Jesus has the answer and He is the answer to any problem we face.
I know that many are in the midst of personal storms. There is a battle being waged in the spirit realm over many things concerning our lives today… health, finances, relationships, even our country …. Choose to stand with God and on the promises of His Word. Allow His peace to blow over you in the midst of the storm, and choose to trust that He is in control and no matter what He is the Victorious King!
PS.
I will be hosting a new link up starting soon – the 3 most popular dates (actually, they each had the same number of votes) from the survey.
They were Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, so if you haven’t had the opportunity to voice your opinion follow the link here and share your thoughts.
I am trying to determine the best day to have my new linkup on.
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. Your opinion matters and your voice counts! ???? Click o the picture to go to the survey
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My Post “Climb Every Mountain” was featured in the August monthly link-up at : Life on Intention Link-up Party
My Post: “The Journey through Change” was featured here:
I have been know to link to the following Inspirational Parties:
Sunday’s
Monday’s
What Joy is Mine/Monday Musings
Tuesday’s
Wednesday’s
Thursday’s
Friday’s:
Saturday’s:
Thank you, Debbie. I appreciated your reassuring voice that God has everything in control. We are in some troubling times, but God is the victorious king!
Visiting from #thoughtprovokingthursday.
I’m off to take your survey.
Gleniece – First of all thank you for taking the survey! .. and yes, sadly we are in troubling times, and I constantly need to remind myself that God is in control and He is got this and anything else that may come my way, or at His people. Have an awesome day and thank you for visiting.
I’m glad God always wins every battle. There is no storm that is bigger than he is! Glad your storm turned out to be so minimal in your area.
thank you Lisa, I am so grateful too that the storm was minimal…and even more grateful that GOd is bigger than any battle or storm we face and that He always wins… it helps be stay mostly peace filled in the midst of it. I say mostly because sometimes I can let it get the best of me and get anxious or fearful, then He reminds me, He’s got this. Have an awesome day
I love how God turns those storms around. Two years ago I was fretting and started putting things up and planning if I would take a route out of here by myself – hubby was at work a distance away and on and on I fretted because they were saying it was going to be bad – tornadoes. They weren’t. In December this year the day after Christmas a tornado hit a couple of miles from here with devastation everywhere. We stood on our front porch watching power lines go down and calm and praying when we saw them near our son’s house.
Thank you for the reminders.
Oh Wow Debbie – I love that you were standing on your front porch praying and watching the storm and standing in peace and calm while doing soon! That is such a powerful image and testimony. Thank you for stopping by and sharing your experience too. 🙂
I love this truth: the God who controls the winds and the waves is also in control of the election here in our country! I will carry this truth right into the voting booth with me next week!
Michelle, I am so glad that those words are the truth and encouragement you will be carrying with you through the election. I am doing the same.
WOW! So much truth and wisdom here, Debbie. Your question-“do you ever fear the unknown?”–really “zinged” me, because YES, I do all the time. And as I am living in the midst of so much that is unknown about a particular situation, the unsettledness of it all wears me down. I am trying to take every thought captive, and, as you reference, not to give way to vain imaginations. Somewhere, there is the quote about not being afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God. Thank you for sharing your words and heart here…stopping by from Women With Intention!
Elizabeth — I a so glad you stopped by, and just know, you are not alone in fearing the unknown. It is something God is working on me with as well. I pray that the God of peace rains down upon you and that the situation you are in the midst of that is unsettling will come to an end. oh and yes, that is a quote I have heard before too, but sometimes it is easier to say that it is to do 🙂 Blessings and I am so glad you stopped by today.
Debbie you wrote many good things here. God is sovereign and that has been my comfort as we approach election day. I know many who seem to be pointing fingers and are using their pages to say to other believers that if they don’t such and such then they don’t care etc, but you are right that we must seek God, each of us…and really listen to what He is saying to us. I agree and am praying too that the person will let God lead them and they will be an example for our country. I have also been praying God will shed light onto the dark and foil the schemes of the enemy and let good leaders everywhere rise up who will live a life pleasing to Him. Sorry this is so long. This has been on my heart and I haven’t share it really. And just to add on a funny note: the knocked over chair made me about laugh out loud. I love it! God is awesome!
Meg – I know exactly how you feel, and your comment length is just fine. This is a safe place for you to share your thoughts out loud! I agree with you in prayer that God will shed His light into the darkness and expose the plans of the enemy. May Good leaders rise up and be bold to take a stand for what is right and in line with the Word of God! I too am so very sadden by the number of believers pointing fingers and throwing around accusations. So not good, and it breaks my heart… I know, isn’t the chair meme the funniest every! LOL – Blessings dear friend
I agree that a battle is being waged. We have to pray for the wisdom to act in the way we are being led, especially while in the voting booth. In reality, if you are a believer, the election is over and what we do will not change the outcome. There is a plan, we just need to sit in it and wait, with faith. I will be voting the way I am led, I will not condescend towards those who do not believe the same. How do I know that they aren’t being led? There way may be different than mine, but it’s not my job to judge. We will get through this, it may not end up the way we want, but it is already decided. I find comfort in that.