by Joanne Wiklund
Dark clouds, winds, temperature and barometric pressure dropping are all signs the weather is changing. Storms were always a problem for my mom and I. We spent many a dark and stormy night at the kitchen table often by candle light, her with a cup of coffee and me with colors and a coloring book. I’ve never been sure who was comforting the other
One night a tree taller than our two story house was hit by lightning in our yard. The wind brought it down right alongside the old house. Landing hard, it rattled all the windows. As children, there were four of us upstairs and our parents were downstairs.
Just days before the tree came down, breaking only a storm window on their bedroom, Mom had been in a car accident and broken her collar bone. She had a lot of trouble getting in and out of bed. But the night the tree came down, we were all in bed asleep till the lightning cracked the tree and the wind twisted it. I can still hear the creaking, both the tree and the old house. But from the time the lightning hit the tree, and the tree hit the ground, Mom was upstairs with her kids. Dad used to tease her about it. I can still hear him: “What did you think you could do, Vi? Hold up the tree?”
A friend, Will, sent me these words in 2001. A missionary friend of his, Jack, shared this with him.
Will knows I love eagles.
“Storms are not a problem for eagles. They know when a storm is coming long before it breaks. When the storm hits, the eagle sets its wings so that the wind will pick it up an lift it above the storm. While the storm rages below, the eagle is soaring above it. The eagle does not escape the storm. He simply uses the storm to lift him higher. It rises on the winds that bring the storm.
When the storms of life come upon us- and all of us will experience them- we can rise above them by setting our minds and our beliefs toward God. The storms do not have to overcome us. We can allow God’s power to lift us above them. God enables us to ride the winds of the storms that bring sickness, tragedy, failure and disappointment to our lives. We can soar above the storms. Remember that it is not the burdens of life that weigh us down, it is how we handle them. Isaiah 40:31 “They that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” Author Unknown.
Really needed this at this time in my journey. God will carry me through all of this.