The storms they’ve raged.  Every day.  Wild and hard.  Beating.  Exhausting.  They’ve raged not in extreme circumstances, but in the mundane, the every day.  We battle minute-by-minute for grace, strength.

Some of life’s storms – a great sorrow, a bitter disappointment, a crushing defeat – suddenly come upon us.  Others may come slowly, appearing on the uneven edge of the horizon no larger than a person’s hand.  But trouble that seems so insignificant spreads until it covers the sky and overwhelms us.

Yet it is in the storm that God equips us for service.  When God wants an oak tree, He plants it where the storms will shake it and the rains will beat down upon it.  It is in the midnight battle with the elements that the oak develops its rugged fiber and becomes the king of the forest.

The beauties of nature come after the storm.  The rugged beauty of the mountain is born in a storm, and the heroes of life are the storm-swept and battle-scarred.

The wind that blows can never kill

The tree God plants;

It blows toward east, and then toward west,

The tender leaves have little rest,

But any wind that blows is best.

The tree that God plants

Strikes deeper root, grows higher still,

Spreads greater limbs, for God’s good will

Meets all its wants.

There is not storm has power to blast

The tree God knows;

No thunderbolt, nor beating rain,

Nor lightning flash, nor hurricane;

When they are spent, it does remain,

The tree God  knows.

Through every storm it still stands fast,

And from its first day to its last

Still fairer grows.

 

~ Streams in the Desert, January 16 

 

 

1519.  iMac back  (again)

1520.  feeling human again

1521.  sweet, thoughtful text messages

1522.  the blessing of friendship

1523.  knowing who our enemy is

1524.  knowing the victory is already won

1525.  perspective on my own problems

1526.  mini-Maacs

1527.  moving on to Kansas City

1528.  fighting hard against the enemy’s attacks

1529.  relaxed dinner with friends

1530.  pictures from Haiti – such a gift

1531.  a quiet Sunday afternoon

1532.  planning another week of school

1533.  children and their imaginations

1534.  peace in the storm

May you praise Him wherever He has you this week.

For His Glory ~

~ Sara