{"id":9852,"date":"2019-04-07T04:58:16","date_gmt":"2019-04-07T09:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=9852"},"modified":"2019-04-07T04:58:29","modified_gmt":"2019-04-07T09:58:29","slug":"weathering-the-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=9852","title":{"rendered":"Weathering the Storm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\nWe\u2019re stoked about the Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon being given by the downtown Scottish Rite Children\u2019s Hospital which includes our North location volunteers. It\u2019s going to be a great way to spend a Saturday with some other volunteers going with me. We are decked out in our 50s and 60s outfits because, after all, a prize is going to the best dressed.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First thing, I see an email from Sally: \u201cIt looks like the weather is going to be too bad for us to go to the luncheon.\u201d My optimistic, no-worries, “What\u2019s-a-little-storm-anyway?” reply was: \u201cI don’t mind taking my car and driving in the rain (I’m used to it. I’m often on the road to Austin or Tulsa in the rain). And when we get there, we’ll be parking in the garage. I’ll be happy to pick you girls up and we go for it! Let’s be adventurous and live with no regrets!\u201d So the girls were onboard for \u201cdragging Main\u201d, until heading out, opening my garage door and a gust of tornadic winds and rains blew back at me. My granddaughter texted me \u201cTornado!\u201d I went back in and canceled<\/g> our outing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I remembered this photo of a bird weathering the storm and the words: \u201cSometimes, you just have to bow your head. Say a prayer, weather the storm and trust that this too shall pass.\u201d Many of us handle the challenges in our lives like that bird. We stand in the rain soaking wet with a smile on our faces in our cute pair of galoshes and say, \u201cI\u2019m dry, really, I\u2019m dry.\u201d I know what that\u2019s like because I\u2019m a \u201cSTORM-move-out-of-the-way” kind of girl. I can grin and bear it when the weather channel maps are covered with red and sending warnings to take shelter immediately. There were terrifying tornadoes that took the roof off our barn, our parents lost their home in a tornado, ice storms caused a loss of electricity for days, snow storms kept us homebound for days, hail storms devastated our home’s roof, and, now, wind and rain storms kept us from a great luncheon. But, I could grin and bear it through most of them! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, there were times when the storms of life prevailed in my life that brought hurt, disappointment, fear, concern, and pain, unlike those literal storms. Those storms were slow in passing. Those torrential storms upheaved my comfort and security. Those storms shook me physically, mentally and spiritually. I had to admit that my optimistic, no-worries, “What\u2019s-a-little-storm-anyway?” reply didn’t work those times. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, in the midst of some of my darkest hours, LOVE showed up in the form of family and friends who encouraged me with comforting words, but most comforting that I heard within my heart was God’s whisper, \u201cI\u2019m here with you.\u201d I also realized I wasn\u2019t the only one who was soaking wet from the storms. Others began to open up to me. It seemed I wasn\u2019t the only one with a storm in her life. Many of us were drenched from the rain and I found out we all had some type of rain in our lives. We were great, big, beautiful soggy messes, and God loved us all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe you\u2019re muttering under your breath, \u201cI\u2019m dry, really, I\u2019m dry\u201d but your soaking wet from the storms in your life. It’s okay to admit it. When we open our eyes to the Peace-Maker and Storm-Chaser walking on the water to us, we\u2019ll finally be free to discover that LOVE is waiting for us right in the center of our storms. Along with this brave little bird, we remind ourselves “to bow our heads, say a prayer, weather the storm and trust that this too shall pass.\u201d I assure you, I\u2019m proof positive that we can weather any storm when we know God is with us and we are safe, sheltered in His loving and sovereign arms. Forecast for tomorrow? Blue skies, sun shining, calm winds. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re stoked about the Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon being given by the downtown Scottish Rite Children\u2019s Hospital which includes our North location volunteers. It\u2019s going to be a great way to spend a Saturday with some other volunteers going with me. We are decked out in our 50s and 60s outfits because, after all, a prize…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[12773,12775,43,1237,763,6748,6145,4308,11770,2989,12772,12774,12776],"class_list":["post-9852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bird-weathering-the-storm","tag-darkest-hour","tag-optimistic","tag-rain","tag-scottish-rite-childrens-hospital","tag-snow","tag-tornadic-winds","tag-tornado","tag-volunteers","tag-weather","tag-weather-channel","tag-weathering-the-storm","tag-winds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9852","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=9852"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9857,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9852\/revisions\/9857"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}