Oct
31
2012
No Coincidence
Posted in Prayer 2 Comments
The day after the storm.
Sandy has gone…wherever storms go…when they have wreaked havoc on millions.
Devastation in her wake!
The day after.
We lost power for sixteen hours.
Inconvenient…but a blessing compared to what others have experienced.
New Jersey and New York were hit the hardest.
People that rely on buses and trains…halted…because everything is under water.
Our township declared an emergency, since a river flows along a major state road.
It was inevitably flooded, I am sure.
Only essential personnel could be out on the roads.
Wonderful to be home…except for the violent wind and the torrential rain.
I prayed so fervently for our neighbors, the first responders, the national guard.
I prayed so fervently for others on the east coast, experiencing the fury of this storm.
I prayed for my family…my sons…away at school…affected by the storm.
God protected…and I am grateful.
As the wind howled…and I lay in bed praying…I thought of the constant din of prayer that God must have heard through this storm.
He heard it all!
Every prayer…distinguishable to His ear.
He, the Sovereign One, knows the voice of His children.
He knows what we need before we even ask Him.
Before we lost power, I was on the computer writing and answering emails.
I saw a friend from church post a picture…simple and remarkable.
A praying mantis was clinging to her window screen…in the height of the storm!
Hours after her first post…around 7:30 pm, he was still clinging.
When the power was restored, and I was able to check…he was still clinging as of 8:52 am.
Over thirteen hours later.
Amazing!
Tenacious!
In the height of a violent storm…grace!
A praying mantis…at the end of October…on a window screen.
Then Jesus told His disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. (Luke 18:1)
The parable Jesus told was about a persistent widow who kept coming to a judge pleading for justice against her adversary. Many times He refused her, but he finally gave in and said, “Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming.”
(Luke 18:4,5)
How unlike God!
We can never wear Him out with our coming.
Our persistent prayers never bother Him.
In fact, they delight Him.
Pray and don’t give up!
Exemplified in the clinging praying mantis on the window screen in the terrible storm.
When I woke up this morning and came downstairs, I opened blinds to let in natural light.
There was a brilliant red cardinal on my deck right outside my kitchen window.
The sky was gray…branches and leaves everywhere.
The house dark with no electricity.
Yet in the midst of the storm’s dreariness…grace!
A red cardinal…pushing away the gray.
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? (Matthew 6:26,27)
God has it all under control.
Brilliant color transforming the stormy gray.
A lone cardinal being fed by our Heavenly Father.
I was blessed by a short video a sweet, young mother posted.
It was of her little two-year-old girl…who was afraid of the storm.
She had rushed into her parents’ bedroom announcing her fear.
When her mom got her talking about what made her afraid, she admitted it was the storm.
However, when the wind made an ominous sound, she gasped!
What was that? her mom asked.
Owls…they go OOOOH!!! this precious one said.
Fears calmed….being near her Mom and her Dad.
I sought the Lord, and He answered me; He delivers me from all my fears. Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. (Psalm 34:4,5)
The storm most definitely did not whisper.
But God did!
God whispers…in the ordinary…in the simple moments.
Some may say the praying mantis and the cardinal were coincidences!
Some may say…of course, the little girl’s fears were calmed by her mother.
No coincidences!
No…just because…or a smug “of course”!
It is God in all His majesty.
God telling us…I’m here…you have nothing to be afraid of.
God showing us…This beauty is just for you…because I love you!
Tenacious!
We cling…not to a screen…but to Him.
We marvel at simple beauty and know that it is a glimpse of His beauty.
We run to Him when we are afraid and He comforts us.
Wind may sound like owls.
We may get it wrong…often…out of fear and confusion.
He gets it right…always!
He is near…all the time!
Even…or most especially…in the storm!
I liked this best:
“We may get it wrong…often…out of fear and confusion.
He gets it right…always!
He is near…all the time!
Even…or most especially…in the storm!”
Janna,
The truth of those words comforts me!
I need Him near!
Gina