There we were — taco in one hand, enchilada in the other –celebrating my bonus daughter Amelia’s birthday at El Alma\u2019s in Austin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The conversation was as rich as the queso, especially as we praised Amelia, who is a beloved middle school social worker with a superpower: making people feel seen, safe, and strong. She\u2019s practically a walking emotional support system, and I can\u2019t imagine a better person to have in a school right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then — suddenly — cue the movie soundtrack of shock and awe!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sunny skies turned charcoal gray. The trees started breakdancing. Winds howled. And just like that, our peaceful celebration turned into a storm-watch episode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the way home, our Waze app rerouted us like a maze, avoiding downed trees, flooded roads, and who-knows-what-else. What should\u2019ve been a short drive turned into an Austin obstacle course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The next morning\u2019s headlines read like a disaster reel: one person was swept away in flood waters and died, a gas station\u2019s roof collapsed on a car, glass shattered at the airport, and even the Texas State Capitol lost windows near the top of its rotunda. All of it — in minutes. That\u2019s what “suddenly” can look like!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that\u2019s what this blog is really about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What do we do when life throws us a suddenly? A diagnosis. A job loss. A relationship that takes a hard left. We don\u2019t see it coming. But God always does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our brains are wired to react to danger — it\u2019s that old negativity bias. But we don\u2019t have to stay stuck in fear. Instead of scolding ourselves for feeling anxious, we can pause and pray:
\u201cGod, thank You for an amazing brain. But I only want instructions from You.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then we get to choose:
\u201cDid this come to harm me — or promote me?\u201d
\u201cSlow me down — or grow me up?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Philippians 4:13 tells us, \u201cI can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.\u201d Not some things. All things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Storms may blow in fast, but they don\u2019t get the final word. God does. And He says, \u201cHold on to Me. I\u2019ll guide you through this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, when life brings a suddenly, let’s take a breath, grab hold of our Father\u2019s hand, and walk on. He knows the way. In fact — He is the Way-Maker!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There we were — taco in one hand, enchilada in the other –celebrating my bonus daughter Amelia’s birthday at El Alma\u2019s in Austin. The conversation was as rich as the queso, especially as we praised Amelia, who is a beloved middle school social worker with a superpower: making people feel seen, safe, and strong. She\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22220,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[650,1210,16805,31908,1392,28489,16422,11990,40,457,44,31909,1153,127,799,31906,31910,4718,12087],"class_list":["post-22219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-austin","tag-blog","tag-danger","tag-el-alma","tag-facebook","tag-gas-station","tag-god-sees","tag-harm","tag-inspiration","tag-negativity","tag-peace","tag-promote","tag-skies","tag-storm","tag-suddenly","tag-texas-state-capitol","tag-way-maker-2","tag-waze","tag-wind"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22219"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22230,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22219\/revisions\/22230"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}