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storms







Last night my family headed to the Marshall County Fair.  As many of you are, we were eager for some rain and commented that every time we go to the fair there is a storm.  We were sure this would guarantee some much needed rain!

Sure enough, a low rumble started and before we knew it a storm, and I mean a STORM was blowing through the fair grounds.  I had taken the kids into one of the exhibit barns where my husband was working to wait it out.  It sure seemed pretty intense and I found my daughter in near tears sitting on my lap.  I wrapped my arms around her and just assured her I was here and that we were in the safest spot we could be.  The storm passed and she said with great confidence she had received 2 answers to prayer:  one was that it rained and the other was that she was safe in the storm.

In the middle of the night I awoke to yet another low rumble that quickly grew in intensity.  In a little while, she was standing by our bed scared again.  We did some rearranging and I found her next to me in bed.  She was quickly asleep again as I listened to the storm pass.

This morning we awoke to yet more rumbles and a downpour of rain.  I grabbed my coffee and bible and headed to the back porch to soak it all in.  As I sat there enjoying the rain and the cool breeze from the comfort of my sheltered porch I was reminded of the many verses where God is described as our shelter from the storm.  I was so thankful that I could enjoy the storm from my place on that porch.  I was reminded of my daughter from the night before.  She sought shelter from the storm on my lap and was able to recognize that God had kept her safe.

You know, as a parent, our tendency is to protect our kids from storms.  Not just physical storms with thunder and lightning, but storms of life.  God promises that we will have trouble in this world, so why do we as parents feel the need to shelter our kids from those storms?  Yes, we long to protect them, and rightly so.  But what if we just held them through the storm? What if we held them close and let them know that God is their Shelter.  God is the one that covers them as they walk through the storm.  Why do we hide our own life storms from them?  Why not let our kids see us seeking shelter in His wings?  

Storms can be scary and hard to walk through.  Storms leave us feeling ripped apart sometimes.  Storms often leave a trail in our lives.  Maybe that is why we long to protect our kids from their own storms:  suffering consequences to poor choices, dealing with failure, disappointment, even tragedies of divorce, death, and sin.  But the truth is that if we hadn’t walked through those storms we wouldn’t be who we are today.  God has a purpose and plan in all of those – even if just to make us more humble and willing to seek shelter.  Or maybe that is just my own personal experience.

In today’s world, there are many places for our kids (and us) to run to in a storm.  Places other than the shelter of God.  So as I hold my daughter through these physical storms, I long for her to see my peace in knowing God is in control.  And I long for her to begin to grasp two things; that God is our shelter as storms brew around us, and that I, as her mother, will always hold her hand through those storms.  We can’t shelter our child through storms of life, but God promises He will.

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