As my family and I spent the better part of last week helping with the much needed disaster relief efforts that have been going on in our city as a result of the deadly storms and tornadoes that ripped through North Carolina on April 16th, I have once again found reason to pause and thank God for our many blessings.
One day, upon returning home from the clean-up effort, I walked up on my front porch, sank down into my fave rocker and just as I started to admire my surroundings and enjoy the warm sun on my face, my mind raced back to the wreckage I had just left behind..... moreso the faces of the many people that were so harshly affected by the storms...I began to try and imagine my home in the condition of those I had just left behind...some were left with only interior walls, some had trees sticking through walls...from the inside out while some had trees smack in the middle of them.
As I looked around my surroundings with these remembrances bouncing in my head and heart, I suddenly began to feel guitly that my home had been untouched while there were so many less than 3 miles away from me who were left with nothing....I also began to feel fear over how fragile life is and how quickly things can be forever altered in the blink of an eye!!!! In that same moment, a question and a prayer began forming within me...."God, how does one survive/get past something like that?" And as He often does, He answered me back with another question which immediately formed in my spirit...."What are you holding on to?"
Right away I knew what He was hinting at...I had also been re-playing in my mind the requests we had received from a few homeowners that day as they had asked for help in searching for and salvaging such valuables as family photos, wedding rings, pianos,cards & letters from loved ones that they'd lost to death years ago, and refrigerators.......yes, refrigerators...
You see, I'd just been surveying my "earthly possessions" and counting their worth in my heart...I knew immediately that my focus was off and His question was intended to draw me back to what is most important, the source of all my stregnth and the One true constant in my life....HIM!!!!
He wasn't saying that all those we had helped that morning and afternoon were wrong for trying to salvage their treasures, but He WAS checking me for holding so tightly to mine that I was actively worrying over, fearing and dreading at the thought of ever having to part with them....in an instant, I found myself seeking His forgiveness, thanking Him (once again) for His sovereign protection in the storm and asking for the strength to remember that He can be trusted in the midst of life's fiercest trials.....especially since I had witnessed with my own eyes so much of that trust in Him in action through many of the storm survivors......inspite of all of their losses ....
I hope to return to the disaster site with my family again this week, to love on those in need and offer our help and support through being the hands and feet of Jesus here on earth, but this time I will return to my home and sink back in my fave porch rocker with these words in mind...HIS words... " So I tell you, don't worry about everyday life-whether you have enough food or drink, and clothes. Doesn't life consist of more than food and clothing? Look at the birds, they don't need to plant or harvest or put food in barns because your heavenly Father feeds them. And you are more valuable to Him than they are. Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? Of course not. " "Why be like the pagans who are so deeply concerned about these things? Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs, and He will give you all you need from day to day if you live for Him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern." So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring it's own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today." Matthew 6:25-27 & 31-34 (NLT)
