How do you deal with the storm?

Devastation…Destruction…Have you ever been in a storm?  Not an emotional storm, I mean a REAL storm like a tornado.  Our family experienced a tremendous storm this past week similar to a tornado however it was actually called a long-wind storm or downburst. I never even heard of that until now.  It’s similar to a tornado because the winds can be just as brutal that can go over 150 miles per hour. Crazy, right?

This was the first time I ever experienced a storm.  It took me back to my childhood when we used to go to the hallways for tornado drills with our classmates to huddle down on the floor with our hands wrapped around our heads.  I never imagined going through one really.

The lights went out in the house. The second I heard the windows rattling in my living room, I took the family into the laundry room where there are no windows.  I got all 3 candles lit.  It was around midnight so the kids were in their pajamas.  I told them to get pants on and their gym shoes to get ready to bolt down to the basement as soon as I tell them.  We huddled in the laundry room for a while waiting for a siren or a sound of a train but nothing.  The children start praying for God’s protection that nothing would harm our house or our family.  My 5-year-old daughter says, “Jesus will save us!”  We said, “Yes, He will.”

Meanwhile my husband watched through the kitchen window to see a tree had fallen upon our little car.  We stayed in the laundry room for quite a while and then my husband said the storm had calmed.  We left the laundry room tense and we all laid down in the living room together.  The children were scared to go to sleep. The storm was indeed over.

Storms are a horrendous experience for anyone.

When you go through a storm, all sorts of thoughts go through your mind. My “Mama Bear brain” went into full gear; all I knew was I had to get my babies safe.  Then full on prayer warrior got into gear.  The mind races and it knows what needs to be done. Actions are being done but emotions are HIGH.  All I knew was God would protect us.  I thought even if we go to the basement and leave out of there with no roof above our heads, God would protect us along a treacherous journey BUT we would not be alone.  He would always be with us.

Morning came and my oldest daughter woke up at the same time with me.  Thanking Jesus we were alive and in shock of what had happened.  We took the camera and went outside.  It seemed like complete and utter destruction.  Now mind you we live in the country, it’s very rural and nothing but trees.  We have trees completely surrounding the house, probably about 10 trees.

As we walked out the back door, there were branches all over the ground. The tree on the left side of the barn had danglers. There was a tree on the right side of the barn laid out with its roots shown.  It was uplifted.  On the right of the house there was a pine tree split in half.  My daughter was enjoying her picture-taking; it made her feel like a reporter however she was shocked.  It was something you see in a movie.  Then the other side of the house, the walnut tree had fallen into pieces onto my Ford Fiesta.  The car is so small that the branches had covered it in its entirety.  Then the tree outside my kitchen window had split in half, thankfully split the opposite direction of the house or it would’ve been in my kitchen and living room. Now these are the big full-grown trees, the rest of the trees that had fallen were on the smaller side.

The house had a few minor shingles misplaced, a vent had fallen off, and a cracked window.  That’s it.  The barn was not damaged, which had our other vehicle stored away.

I felt SO thankful that our family was unharmed and the house had minimal damage. Thank you God…

Now some people ask, “How can you thank God and think you are blessed with all the damage you have on your property?  That makes no sense… Now you have to call the insurance companies and deal with them, call tree trimmers and that’s going to be expensive to cut and haul away, then you have to call a roofer”… the complaints continue.

YES! There are a lot of hassles to get through all of this but you know what.  It doesn’t matter.  It’s the small stuff that you have to just go with the flow and let GO.  Who cares!  It could’ve been a lot worse.

HOW?

My kids could’ve gotten hurt or a tree could have fallen on top of the house and killed them or my husband.  My husband wasn’t in the laundry room with us; he was in the kitchen full of windows. There was so much that could have gone terribly wrong.

Guess what?

We’re safe.  We have a roof over our heads.  Then our electricity turned on in the afternoon the day after.  What more can we be grateful for?

What’s the life lesson about this storm?

Life is hard and storms will come your way when you least expect it.  Believe me!  How you perceive your blessings and your faith in God will make a difference in how you live your life.  You don’t have to worry about the small stuff (insurance company claims, roofers, tree trimmers, expenses, etc.)  There is more to life than this.  Cherish your family and your loved ones.

“Life is too short to worry.” – TWEET THIS!

Matthew 6:25-27 (NIV)

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

Tell me about the storm in your life.

How are you taking it?  With stride or with worry?

Take care,

Lillian De Jesus