Crazy storms!

So, we celebrated our anniversary this week.  Our plan for the day was hiking and just goofing off.  Eat at a couple of different restaurants we had heard about and then call it a day.  I had been watching the weather and knew to expect rain.  I was kind of bummed a bit to be honest...but I was determined to have a good anniversary day…celebrating!

Funny thinking back to our wedding day…we got married on a Sunday….in August.  I have no idea what I was thinking because it was outside.  Hot!!  Anyway, it was rainy that morning.  Nothing like we have had this week, just a little rain shower.  I don’t remember thinking anything of it at the time.  Well maybe a little worried because I think someone said it was bad luck. Haha!

Last weekend we decided to go hike at Graveyard Fields with the girls since we hadn’t been in so long.  I forgot two things, that the girls were so little when we went before that they couldn’t really remember the parkway and that I myself forgot how beautiful it is.  It is definitely something I take for granted living here.  It was fun to watch the girls watch the mountains.  And of course they wanted to try and find our house.  Haha!  It was so incredibly beautiful!!

So when Kenny and I went for our hike this week we decided to go back up and find Skinny Dip Falls.  Somehow neither one of us had been and we wanted to scope it out before we took our girls back.  And just for the record...you do have to wear clothing there...it is not optional.  And no I did not try to find out otherwise.  Haha!  Oh goodness!  As we were driving we literally drove right into the clouds.  It was amazing...a little unnerving...but amazing!  (The unnerving part is having zero visibility and coming up on cars either with no lights on...or one car stopped in one of the many tunnels.  Geesh!)  Back to the "beautifulness".  Wow!  Even though you couldn’t see in parts it was pretty.  At one point we came into a clearing and the sun was peaking through on the mountains.  Kenny and I both were just like WOW!  We pulled over just to see how crisp everything looked.

I have always loved how things look after the rain.  It just kind of washes all the dirt and grime away.  The trees look fresh and clean.  I love it!  That’s how it was that day.  It was fresh and crisp on the other side of the rain and the clouds.  Up past Pisgah View, where you couldn’t see 2 cars in front of you by the way, past the Brevard turnoff.  Truly Amazing!

Sometimes storms seem to engulf us and we think the rain will never stop.  The lightning pops around us and the thunder sounds like it could take your house down.  I do love a good thunderstorm!  Especially lately though, it seems like there are just so many storms. Everyday there is a storm.  I drive home from work and it looks like there has been a tropical storm with all of the limbs and debris laying around.

The storms of life are no different really.  Man they can truly wreak havoc on a person.  And just when you think you can catch your breath and pick yourself up off the ground…BAM...another clap of thunder and the storms roll in again.  Sometimes we go through whole seasons of storms.  I honestly think my name could be April sometimes.  (April showers bring May flowers.)  I personally am ready for my name to be May!!  All the time!  Lol!

What about when all of that mess starts clearing?!  Does it begin to look more vivid for you?  Sometimes the storm in your life is over but you got a big old, ugly, black eye from that limb that smacked you square in the face when you weren’t looking.  It may take you a while to open your eyes and to even be able to see the clear trees against the skyline.  The crisp, clean leaves on the branches.  The blue sky in the background.  You might be hurt and don’t want to look.

As much as I love to sit and listen to a good thunderstorm roll in when I am at home...I hate them in my personal life.  I know we need the rain for the earth but I don’t want the refining storm that comes with life.  Personal storms hurt too much.  But we need to learn to look at it after the fact, with eyes wide open.  Now there are some that I am still waiting to see the “Why?” or the “Oh I get it!”  And unfortunately I may not ever see that. 

Storms are new beginnings.  Fresh starts.  Cleaning off of the dirt that builds up.  It is grace washed over you.  It is a “hey...my child...let’s get you rinsed off and cleaned up”.  It’s “you’ve been through some ugly stuff...now I am going to help you get that cleaned off.”  And when the storm is settled and you are sitting there tired...weary...from trying to stand on your own...the Father says...”let Me help you up.”  “Lean on ME!”

Now God is with you during the storm, I am not trying to say different.  I will say that sometimes we get so caught up in the storm that we don’t look for Him or at Him.

I know that I need to do better about looking to Him…and keeping my eyes on Him during my storms.  And I definitely need to run to Him when they are there and when they are over.  How about you?  How do you do when the storms are raging all around you?  Do you stay focused on Him?  Or do you get caught up in your storm?

I want to be better about seeing the crisp sky after my storm.  I want to be better about basking in the sun…and the son!  I want to be better about remembering to not be scared or nervous!  I want to be better about looking on in awe when the rains are so heavy and the thunder so loud!  I want…to feel and to know that I am safe!  THIS only comes from prayer and from spending time in His word.  Something else I need to be better at.  So easy to get caught up in the everyday crazy!

These are some verses that I go to…that I depend on.  I hope they help you too.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Matt. 11:28

An incredibly kind woman, Anne, gave me this next verse after my cousin passed away last year.  That year was already off to a miserable start and it was only March. When he died it literally sucked the wind out of me.  It was that branch that whopped me in the face so hard and gave me the biggest black eye.  Honestly, I think the branch had already hit by that point...and this was the whole tree coming down on me.

Even to your old age and gray hairs

I am He, I am He who will sustain you,

I have made you and I will carry you;

I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

Isaiah 46:4

I have clung to this verse because to me it sums up what I just got really long winded about. Lol!  Oh now...there are days (more than I care to admit) when I am right back down on the ground laying underneath that tree trying to figure out how I got there and how on earth to get up.  I have patient friends.  Haha!  They have prayed for me, offered an ear over ice cream, taken me to lunch, given me countless hugs, and even offered to go all Ronda Rousey on someone for me.  ;)  Really good friends can help see you through…and point you in the direction of the one that can!

He will not leave you or forsake you.  Do not fear or be dismayed.  Deut. 31:8

He said to the, “why are you afraid, you men of little faith?”  Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm.  Matt 8:26

He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed.  PS 107:29

And we know that in all thinks God works for the good of those who love him who have been called according to His purpose.  Romans 8:28

When the storm has swept by, the wicked are gone, but the righteous stand from forever.  Prov. 10:25

I pray you will look to Him during your storm!  I pray I will too!