Joyful Transformation

I wondered why I was buying so big a SUV, more than 75% of the time it is just me in my vehicle. But yesterday as I loaded up Derek, Mary and Matthew and all of their baby paraphernalia to bring them to my house to weather the storm, I was wondering if my car was big enough.

We were very fortunate. The weather blew through here so quickly that it didn’t cause too much damage. There were 27,000 without power in the county of which I was one for about 4 or 5 hours, but other than that we were fine.

Matthew was pretty sure we all just took the day off to play with him. He was so sweet and I did enjoy being with him so much without the pressure of knowing I had to “get somewhere”. It is sad that it takes storms in our lives to make us slow down and just enjoy our families.

At one point yesterday the radar showed a clear band circling Cullman County, it was kind of eerily strange to me. Like God has sheltered us, and I know that He did, not that we are any better or prayed any harder than the people who were hit hard. But for some reason we were spared major damage from this storm. I give Him all the thanks and praise for that.

Thank you to everyone who prayed for us. Continue to pray for those on the coast. Orange Beach and Gulf Shores are like second homes to me. I try and spend as much time as possible there every year. It will not be the same for a long time. God don’t love us more than them, His test for them may be to get through this, and His test for us may be how we help.

Thank you Lord that the loss of lives was limited in this storm. We know that all things material can be replaced. Forgive us when our priorities get up-side-down. Help us to always give you praise, whether we are in need or blessed with plenty. Help our lives be all about You, working on getting Home and taking our neighbors with us.