The Storm-tracker

“Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you." De 31:8

If you are on the East Coast most likely you have watched a little more TV and followed a little more social media in the past 48 hours. We live in a 24/7 news world where we are awaiting the news and anticipating the worst. With mandatory evacuation instructions for today, we decided to leave Folly Beach last night, due to Hurricane Florence who is doing her intimidating dance across the waters. Last night on the way home Bruce asked me if I remember knowing about approaching hurricanes as a child. Neither of us remembered anticipating things like these. In part it was because we didn’t have the means to receive the ‘drip-drip’ news, but rather woke up to the news once it occurred. It certainly is great to have the information of an impending storm, so we can fully prepare. However, I find myself immensely grateful this morning that the storms of life hold no power measured against our God. He has been charting oncoming storms since the beginning of time. His power dismantles…His power swells and churns…His power creates, and His power can still the waters with a breath.

One of the sweetest graces that God has given me over the course of my life has been my lack of knowledge of impending disasters. I call it the providence of God on the road to preparation. He is the only one who knows what make up ours storms, in which direction they will turn and the exact timing of when they will hit. He prepares our lives and our hearts to weather the storms, and if we heed the warnings of the Holy Spirit the impact will be less and the intensity more bearable. It blows my mind to see the different storms that He is charting for every one of us. He shields us from the majority of them, and my confidence is secure knowing that our storms march to His commands. The news would have us believe that Hurricane Florence is this atrocious monster who has the power over our future, but we know that Florence yields to God’s power and His future. She is just a bag of wind in the hands of an all-sovereign God whose very breath can remove, rebuild, restore and redeem any set of circumstances.

If you are in a storm wondering if the sun will ever shine again, take heart because God does His best work in the chaos of our lives. He tells the seasons where to go and how long to stay. He has the aerial view of everything that could possibly strike our lives, and He has personally gone before us, providing a way from underneath the crashing waves. Keep your eyes on the Storm-tracker instead of the storm and you will be protected and carried through all seasons. He is the Bread and Water where the shelves are never empty.