We are entering storm season in Texas . Not sure if you saw it on the news, but we had major weather this weekend in parts of our big state. One small town had a storm with softball size hall thrown by tornadic winds so fierce that it penetrated mobile home walls, busted out car and house windows and destroyed everything else in its path . Most residents of an RV park had the windows broken out of their RVs and lost many structures and vehicles to the storm. Trees and roofs were lifted and tossed like leaves. I saw a terrifying video on YouTube made by a guy taking shelter at a gas station. The driving wind and rain blocked all visibility, yet against all logic, you could see a few vehicles driving by in the background. What could possibly be so important as to warrant driving in those conditions?! People really do make dumb decisions.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/05/01/texas-hailstone-state-record/

https://youtu.be/5vCLECTak-c

Stormy weather has a powerful effect on my ability to think and be productive. Not sure why, but I just can’t function normally when it’s pouring down rain, thundering and lightning outside. My to -do list gets put on hold and I wander around trying to figure out what I’m supposed to be doing. I think it’s the air pressure or something. Thankfully it does not rain like that very much in our county. We live in a weird dry spot where we are more likely to be under a Burn Ban. But we do get storms from the Gulf every year that disrupt my life and mind, as well as causing destruction of property and loss of life to many people. Everyone remembers Hurricane Harvey in 2017, Ike in 2008, Rita in 2005, and Katrina in 2005. And that is just the recent few of the many big storms I have lived through in my 56 years of being close to the Gulf . When I was a kid in Houston, major flooding and hurricanes were a normal occurrence and we learned to deal with it, even had fun with it as a kid playing in the flooded streets. But as an adult I can see the flooding was/is a lack of city planning .

I had big plans this weekend ,but nothing went as planned thanks to the storm outside and the one going on inside my mind. I was supposed to go to a picnic with my Bible study group on Friday and then after that , go help my son move from one apartment to a different one about an hour and a half drive from here. I woke up to rain and just didn’t know what to do about either ! I kept watching the radar and trying to decide and ended up staying home . Mentally I was just getting more and more frustrated and disappointed. Finally I gave up and went to get groceries when there was a break in the rain. That’s when I realized , oh! there’s a break in the rain. I should have gone to the picnic. It’s not raining now! I got the groceries and went home . All this time I was asking God what should I do . But it felt like I was not getting a clear answer. In hindsight I see that the answer was , stay home. But that wasn’t what I wanted . I wanted to go. But as the day progressed things became clear that it was better that I had stayed home and not gone to help my son. This move was something he needed to do without me. He still needed my support by phone, and my prayers, but he worked it out . I didn’t sleep much Friday night because I was worried about him, so I was up praying for him.

Yesterday I was considering going up to help him finish getting the apartment set up and just provide moral support because this is a stressful time for him. I called him and he was okay and had been up all night and was about to take a nap , so I told him I’d come up another day.

After that call and having finally made the decision of whether to go or not , it’s like the storm in my mind suddenly ended and I was able to start getting stuff done! It actually rained more later , but I was in the house busily decorating and cleaning , mostly related to the home improvement project. I even paid bills and did things I hadn’t even realized I needed to do. It was like a switch was flipped in my head from scattered to clear. I’m not sure what was going on, but I think God had been holding me back from going to help my son and I was resisting because I thought I should help him, so it caused this feeling of confusion and frustration. I was asking God what to do but I was not seeing a clear answer, then I finally let go of that thought and then He started helping me get busy with other things . I had plans, but God had other plans . I don’t know why God held me back from going , but I trust that it was for my son’s welfare in some way. He loves my son even more than I can!

One really amazing thing that happened later is I was sitting at my desk and I don’t even know what I was doing there because I kept bouncing around from task to task , and I happened to notice this single credit card bill sitting on top of my desk . Now keep in mind that this whole desk had been moved during the painting and flooring last week. It had piles of papers on it that I had cleaned up but for some reason this one bill was sitting there. Now also note that my credit card bills are all set to auto pay and I don’t usually open them. But for some reason my hand reached out and opened the bill and I started perusing it and suddenly I noticed that a large balance transfer was expiring NOW! Oh no! I had to fix that immediately. So I began the process and successfully found another one of my cards to switch the balance to at zero interest. This was nothing but God intervening in my life ! I had no reason to open that bill, no reason for it to be there, no reason for me to actually look at the tiny details of the bill. I laughed out loud! Thank you, I said to the Holy Spirit. This was a wonderful little sign that he had been with me all along through that storm and was still helping me with life’s problems, even though I had felt so out of sorts.

Then this morning I woke up and grabbed my little devotional book and opened it to a random page and I laughed again as I saw the highlighted verse . One that has been very helpful to me lately and was mentioned last weekend during Sunday school.

2 Corinthians 10:5

[5] We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

Yes, take every thought captive or the devil will try to destroy you with lies, doubts , confusion, and frustration. Remember that God is ALWAYS in control and He is with you . Trust him even in the storms . Trust him when you don’t know whether to stay or go . Pray and rest in the knowledge that he works all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. Then, you’ll love this , guess what the sermon was about today ? It was a passage of scripture from Acts that mentioned my son’s name! And there are only three verses in the Bible with his name . Pretty awesome. God speaks to us, we just have to pay attention to the little messages and don’t get caught up in a storm of our own making.

Have a blessed day, rain or no rain. God loves you!