The Hell Storm

This morning I read a message from a friend talking about driving home during a hail storm. He said hearing the hail hit the metal of his car and wind shield was unnerving; it sounded like his windows would be broken out. Reading all this, I had flashbacks to a very stormy evening here when a violent storm blew through firing softball size hail at our house. It, too, sounded and felt like we were in a war as the hail beat against our home, breaking windows and sending shattered glass like bullets across the interior of our home. We actually had glass embedded in walls across the rooms from the broken windows. Every room in our home was damaged except for the smallest room in the house. How or why it was spared was beyond me.

At that time, the grandchildren, ages five to nine, had just come to live with us. In fact, they had only been here two weeks. This stormy night was frightening to one and all. My Honey had me get into a corner between a divider and the fridge to shield the children. He covered us, along with our dogs huddling with us, with comforters to keep the glass shards from hitting us. As we sat under our tent, we sang every kid Jesus song I could think of as loudly as we could in hopes of drowning out what sounded like machine guns firing at us. My Honey walked the floor in reverent prayer rebuking the storm winds and damaging hail; shouting out in prayer to the Lord to protect our family. It was very intense, violent and can best be described as the hail storm from hell.

When it ended, the silence was almost as deafening as the storm had been. It was so dark, so eerily quiet. It felt unnatural. We could not put a foot on the floor without stepping on glass and water. The children shell shocked. Our animals cowering. Our home of three weeks now riddled with destruction. It was a bleak night, especially after the storm.

Through it all, God protected us. That one little room which escaped damage gave us a dry, glass free place to bed the children down once we could calm them down. Without power or water, all we could do was sit in the dark on the least soggy sofa praising the Lord for bringing us through the storm.

In the midst of hail and hell, God's hand was on us. Life will throw hell storms at us; the Bible tells us we WILL have troubles and problems. Troubles and taxes, things you can count on in this earthly life. The storms and troubles of life are a given; how we deal with them is what makes the difference.

For example, during this hail storm from hell, we all felt fear. Being afraid is not bad in and of itself. It's a human reaction to a bad situation; giving that fear power over how you act is where the trouble comes in. I had four children under that pile of blankets and all I could think of was to protect them. Of the four, two were hysterical; screaming, crying, nearly coming out of their own skin. The other two were just as scared but, seeing their siblings out of control, seemed to know that helping me focus them by singing the Jesus songs was a better solution. We held on tightly to the panicked ones and sang as loudly as we could. I wanted the children to know it is Jesus we cry out to in times of trouble. It helped me to hear my Honey praying with authority; his leadership brought comfort.

How often have you heard it said, "All we can do is pray."? I wish people would say, "The best we can do is pray." because crying out to Jesus is the most powerful action we can take. Storms will come, all hell will break loose and situations will look bleak and dark. Remember that one room shared damage? Think that was coincidence? No. God provided a dry place to rest the weary. Remember how my Honey covered us with comforters? Jesus said he would send us a comforter; the Holy Spirit is called our comforter in the Bible. Though our home on top of this hill was literally rocked on its foundation, Jesus is The Rock on which we stand.

I doubt I will ever forget that stormy night, but mostly I'm thankful for our Life Insurance with The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. When you do business with THAT company, you really are in good hands!