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Jul 01, 2023 06:00am

My Favorite Place in a Storm

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Here in Arkansas, during the spring and summer, storms can pop up pretty quickly, and they can be fierce. We are in “tornado alley,” and most of us have a “fraidy hole” designated in our homes (ours is under a stairway in the middle of the house) where we can wait out the most dangerous storms. Living in the South is wonderful and the scenery is gorgeous, but the storms can definitely be what our young granddaughter described as “vewy scawy!”

However, my favorite places to be during a “not too serious” rainstorm is either riding in a car with someone I love or looking out the window at the small lake behind our house with my husband by my side. In both instances, I feel “safe and warm” while the storm rages outside because of where I am and who is with me.

Sometimes storms come up out of nowhere as we live our lives, and they often catch us off guard — an unexpected financial setback, a health scare or the death of someone we love. Other times, there are storms that seem to stay in one place for an eternity and without showing any signs of letting up — like a chronic illness.

Some people think, when you accept Jesus as your Savior, all your problems will be solved and you’ll never have to face trying times. There’s only one problem with that idea — it isn’t true, because the Bible says, in many places including Matthew 5:45, bad things will happen “to the righteous and the unrighteous.” The bottom line is that bad things happen because we are human, and we all live in a corrupt and sinful world.

God often does keep bad things from happening to us, and we may never even realize He did it. Perhaps it’s a delay in leaving home that seems troublesome at the time, but kept us from being in the middle of a terrible accident. He may even send an unseen angel to provide protection! Other times, He simply walks with us through the storm as it rages around us because — once we confess our sins, ask for forgiveness and accept Jesus as our Savior — He promised that He will “never leave us nor forsake us” (Deuteronomy 31:6). Other Scriptures, including John 10:28, assure us that He holds us in His hands, which means He is always with us.

So let the storms rage — around me or inside me! Whether He chooses to take me around the storm or through it, I can still feel safe, warm and, most of all, loved, because of where I am and Who is with me.