Our Friend Irene

The porch is cleared off, batteries are stocked, and a last minute run to the store for bottled water is in order.  Good ol' Hurricane Irene is headed our way, and our Tropical Storm Watch begins tomorrow.  It's a bit comical really.  While living in Florida, we experienced two severe storms (neither being hurricanes).  Friends warned us of shattered windows and weeks without electricity.  Home Depot supplied us with sheets of plastic and an emergency radio.  We never used any of it.  So here we are, living in Virginia, preparing for a hurricane.  We've been having beautiful sunrises and sunsets as the pressure drops and the clouds move in.  I've got my camera ready!

On My Heart...
“Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.” Matthew 6:34

It isn’t believing that God will take care of you, it’s KNOWING that He will. Surrendering your apprehensions about tomorrow or even the next hour means having zero doubt that He will guide you through it. We cannot begin to fathom HOW he might move us forward, but we can trust that He WILL.

I think the first step to putting worries aside is to simply pray. Talk to God, but then stop to listen. For anyone who’s made a decision on their own and has suffered the consequences, they know it’s far better to wait and listen for direction. I shudder to even think what life might be like if we decided our forward motion without God.

With upcoming decisions for Jesse's health and the ever-wanting desire to move back to the west coast, I find myself in the midst of my own tropical storm.  Hurricane Worry.  Jesse encourages me to pray when I begin to feel anxious about anything, and when I do, God lifts those burdens from my weakened soul.  This past week, I've found myself in constant prayer.  Brief sentences between tasks at work, and long conversations when falling asleep.  Prayer--my survival kit.