Carl was exhausted the day the children left. For eight days he had been totally engaged with the young children and the three small dogs that had come to live with us during Hurricane Florence. Several times, his patience ran out and he had let out a growl to let everyone know that he had had enough.
Thankfully, our grandchildren’s house regained power after a week of being plummeted with strong winds and rain. Several large trees had fallen and there was debris everywhere. But with minor damage to the house, the children were able to go back to some sort of normalcy.
In times of great storms like Florence, we all come to wonder why God allows these catastrophes to occur. We will never completely understand why but we can get a glimpse of his reasoning through the scriptures, particularly in the story of Jesus walking on the water.
Mark 6:45-51 states: “Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.
Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Shortly before dawn he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, because they all saw him and were terrified.
Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down.”
Note that Jesus made his disciples get in the boat. He knew what was going to occur but instead of preventing the storm, he created it. How often do we think God is working when our lives are without troubles? So often when the storms come in our lives, we ask where God is. From this story, it is clear where Jesus was. He was praying for his disciples in the mountains. When our lives are rocked by storms, instead of wondering where Jesus is, we need to remember that he is interceding for us before the Father.
Carl couldn’t understand why he was being faced with his own particular storm. Days of having his own personal space stripped from him made him irritable and out of sorts. But once the storm passed, he returned to being content once more.
“Dear Lord, please help me to have comfort knowing that you are praying for me when I am in the midst of my storms.”
Thanks, Cora. This is so true. My husband and I are in a storm with our daughter, Paige. She was in the hospital for 2 1/2 weeks and is now in the Tower Nursery & Rehab Center in Raleigh. She needs a lot of rehab. She has been malnourished and has many other complications. Jesus is in the storm with us and her and her husband, who doesn’t seem to want to work with us or anyone else. Too complicated to go into, but I did appreciate all you wrote today. Thank you. Pray for her and for us. I will certainly miss being with you at Bible Study this year. 😧 😢It doesn’t seem the same..Also will miss Patty and the others that are still in your group!! Love you, Kathleen
On Tue, Sep 25, 2018 at 5:41 AM, The Adventures of Carl wrote:
> coradarrah posted: “Carl was exhausted the day the children left. For > eight days he had been totally engaged with the young children and the > three small dogs that had come to live with us during Hurricane Florence. > Several times, his patience ran out and he had let out a gro” >
Kathleen, I will definitely pray for you and your family. I am sad that you are not in our group. I already miss your smile and incredible laugh.