After the Storm

There are those times when life seems to click right along and you can plan your days, complete to-do lists and stick closely to your schedules without interruption from unexpected life circumstances.

The kids aren’t getting sick, you haven’t missed a day from work in a while, no big crisis has knocked you off your feet. You’re humming right along.

How do you handle those times? Are you leaning on Jesus, Your Husband, Your Rock just as much as you do during the stormy seasons when things are falling apart?

For some reason, and I don’t know why God made us this way, we tend to drift from Him when things are going pretty good for us. 

Then when a storm comes or an earthquake strikes, with increasing demands, forcing us in over our heads, we cry out to God for help. We wait until we’re desperate before we pray and cry out to Him.

Why does it take the hard seasons of life to get our attention? I speak for myself when I say God uses the loss, trials, hurts and disappointments to readjust my perspective.

I think it’s all about me until something bigger than me happens. Then I see it’s not about me at all. I’m just a small part in the grand scheme of God’s plan. And trust me, there is a grander PLAN and you’re part of it.

Three weeks ago my mother-in-law fell and broke her left hip and left arm. At 81 years old that’s a BIG deal. She could barely recover from major surgery before being sent to rehab. She did get a little better and we all hoped she’d recover.  Her husband of 58 years kept vigil by her bedside daily.

I wanted to be there for my own husband as he watched his mom suffer, hoping she’d recover but knowing deep down these were their last days together.

My, oh my how perspectives changed these past three weeks. Family squabbles, anger and years of hurt and disappointment seemed to melt away with each passing day.

I got the flu smack in the middle of it all. My husband caught a stomach bug and missed a day with his mom.

My own mom, who’s in a nursing home over an hour away calls needing me to bring her stuff. My job is one where if I don’t work I don’t get paid.  

Happily, we had a new family member come into the world in the midst of all this, weighing in at over 9 pounds, making it the 4th great-grandchild for my mother-in-law.

We still have yet to clean up from a bonfire, leadership event at our house over 10 days ago, and I’m way behind on tasks concerning a single-parent ministry we’re getting off the ground.

Needless to say, the past three weeks have been over the top with demands and having to drop our life as we knew it to tend to the immediate.

We lost her this past Thursday. Her funeral was lovely and we’re comforted knowing she’s with Jesus and isn’t suffering anymore.

Now, we’re left sitting in the midst of what I describe as ashes from the past 3 weeks floating slowly to the ground and trickling remnants of smoke drifting upward. 

We’re recovering and getting a grip on the coming week, but things have shifted. There will be a new normal for a lot of folks. Attentions are now focused on PawPaw, Dad and the husband left behind.

When a life earthquake happens and you experience loss and disappointment, once it’s all over, you have to shift, readjust and find a new normal.

When you don’t even know how to pray, just ask for peace and comfort. God gives beyond generously when you ask. When you have peace and comfort, it’s much easier to keep the right perspective as you’re riding out the storm.

Our Monday Marker for today is this: lean on Him, trust and abide constantly, so when the storms and earthquakes hit, you won’t be overcome, but will move through it all in His peace and comfort which can be found nowhere else.

Riding on peace and comfort,

Terri