Weathering the storm

Tragedy has struck our neighborhood.  In a matter of minutes, our neighbor has lost his home due to a horrible fire.  It was scary for us just watching.  I cannot imagine what it was like to live through it.  Thankfully he is ok, but the house and all its contents are gone.

The tragedy occurred this morning.  The girls and I were in a back room and had no clue as to the happenings just two doors down from us.  We had just finished our devotion.  We had been learning about the wise builder and foolish builder.  We had been singing the song, "The wise man built his house upon the rock, and the rains came tumbling down."  The words had just left my mouth, "If we have strong faith in Jesus, our family can get through any storm.  No matter what happens, we know He will take care of us.  That is why we have to build our house on The Rock. With Jesus's help, we can handle anything."

The statement kept ringing in my ears just a few minutes later.  While we were praying, we heard the fire trucks.  We went to the kitchen to see the flames and smoke starting to shoot through the door.  Seconds later, the roof was raging in fire.  My daughter said, "Mommy let's pray now", and we did.  We prayed for the man who lives there (he was outside, so we knew he was ok), we prayed for the Lord to show us how to help him, and we prayed for the Lord to keep us safe.  I couldn't help but think to myself, would I be living by the words I just said to my girls if this was happening to us?  If we were loosing everything, would I be weathering the storm like the wise man, or would I be falling apart like the foolish man?

How do we weather the storms in our life?

I know I need to make improvements on how I weather the trials of this life.  I know now more than ever, I need to make sure my faith is built on The Rock.  Tragedies happen, and we have to be prepared knowing that with God's help we can get through anything!

We heard of another tragedy just last week, that involved a three year old who had to be admitted to the hospital.  The circumstances are horrific.  My husband and I talked about how anybody could go through something so tragic without God to lean on?  Is He the center of our life, our Cornerstone, our Rock, our Strength?

The girls' verse for last week was Psalms 18:1 "I will love thee O Lord, my strength."  It was hard explaining to my oldest daughter not to say "with my strength" but simply "my strength".  We have NO strength without Him.  He has to be the strength of our lives!

Is He "my strength" or am I relying on what I think is my own strength?  If we lost it all today, would we "Rejoice in the Lord always" (Phil 4:4)?  Would we "In every thing give thanks" (1 Thes 5:18)?  Or would we crumble like the foolish man?

Today's Verse
"And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock."  Matt 7:25

Please be in prayer for our neighbor.  He does not have many people to turn to.  Please pray the Lord will show us how to best help in the situation.  I will only say that this situation is delicate, and we must seek the Lord's wisdom in how to help.  Please pray he will be able to weather this storm and find the healing power of God's love in the midst of this tragedy.