We Can Choose to be the Storm or the Eye of the Storm

The eye of the storm is that still, calm place in the middle of a storm. We may think we've been in a storm for some time now with the fierce intensity of the pandemic and the political and racial issues and now Hurricane Isaias has prompted warnings in the Bahamas and parts of Florida. I have known violent weather, spiritual and physical storms. I was tossed about and worn out by them. I also know the eye of the storm when peace prevailed as storms swirled around about me. I realized God actually kept us in the "eye" of the storm throughout the storm. And, better yet, I've realized that I can actually BE the eye of the storm for others in the middle of their situations, conflicts, stresses, circumstances and controversies.

Don’t we desire that others see something genuine in us that represents a safety net for them – someone to go to for consolation, for comfort, for wisdom, for assurance that everything is going to be alright? That safety net or life-vest that we provide during someone’s storm, can be the “eye of the storm” where they find comfort and solace. That is part of the “Love your neighbor as you love yourself” commandment that Jesus said was second only to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind.” (Matt 22:37-39)

I’m sure you’ve heard it said that the longer we are married, the more we start to favor our spouse and even take on each other’s characteristics. Last week, I laughed at my kids, Larry and Staci. Time and again, they would finish each other’s sentences. And, better yet, the more we hang out with God, read His Word, cherish it and speak it, the more we’ll start to look and act like Him and take on His characteristics of peace, calm, love, joy, kindness, etc., and the more we'll be able to bring about all those characteristics in situations we may be in or encounter. And, when we listen to His Word spoken or read – we’ll even begin to quote passages of His Words.

So, if we represent His peace in the middle of chaos, then even our presence, can cause peace to come to the storm. The atmosphere of the storm can change simply because we are so calm and peaceful. He can make us the EYE of the storm, not only to ourselves and our families, but even to those around us.
To you, today, my dear friends and family, I pray you not only encounter He who is our peace in the middle of the storms you are facing today, but that you BECOME the peace (the EYE of the storm) that settles the score.....John 14:27 “I’m leaving you peace. I’m giving you my own peace. I’m not giving it to you as the world gives. So, don’t let your hearts be troubled, and don’t be afraid."

I love Ryan Stevenson's song, “In the Eye of the Storm”......
“In the eye of the storm, You remain in control.
In the middle of the war, You guard my soul.
You alone are the anchor, when my sails are torn.
Your love surrounds me, in the eye of the storm."

To Everything, There is a Season

On Sunday, I attended church in cool, Fall-like weather. In Florida, churches were closed because of Hurricane Irma fast approaching. I barbecued outdoors and served my family dinner and special cake for Alexia's 10th day leading up to her Sweet 16. In Florida, many families were dispersed to shelters, hunkered down in their homes or stayed with friends or families further North. On Sunday night, I watched the Dallas Cowboys play and beat the New York Giants (Yay) in between watching the 2018 Miss America Pageant where my kids, Ryan, Shawntel (1996 Miss America) and their two youngest boys were celebrating that wonderful organization that provides such outstanding scholarships for young women. I’ll admit my conscience was disturbed as I was having such a beautiful day, while people in storm areas didn’t even know if they’d have a home to go home to the next day, or if they did, they didn’t know when their electricity would be back on or have access to running water.

King Solomon (son of King David) wrote these words in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
~ a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
~ a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
~ a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
~ a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
~ a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
~ a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away;
~ a time to tear, and a time to sew; time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
~ a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.”

That list represents the seasons and the important matters of our lives. Some are happy times, others sad; some are productive while others seem wasteful; some inspire peace and others bring pain. But, all of them are necessary for us to learn, grow, and be resilient and determined to press through or coast through “the seasons”. Their appearance is not by accident. If we look closely enough, each experience reveals a loving, divine purpose that we can learn to trust God more.

I share this with you from experience. I’ve experienced most all of those seasons that King Solomon referred to, especially “a time to be born, and a time to die” Today marks the birthday of my precious husband. . I enjoyed many seasons with him before his graduation day to heaven. There were times of weeping, and there were times of laughing. I laugh a lot these days. My time for weeping was over. There was a time to mourn and a time to dance.

I know it’s difficult to fathom any good that can come out of the devastation and heartbreak that has been experienced in the recent hurricanes, fires, and earthquakes. We prayed for the Lord to push this storm away from land and out into the sea, but instead it ravaged so many homes and businesses.

I pray each day for God's protection over my family and nation. I'm sure you do the same. But, when our prayers seem unanswered, how can we continue trusting the One to whom we pray? First of all, it's when our prayers seem unanswered that we MOST NEED to trust Him.

Today it may not feel like there is much hope on the horizon for an expeditious way out of our circumstances. The passage from here to there may seem like a dark and endless tunnel, but I assure you, one day, we’ll see the light at the end of the tunnel and we’ll realize the gifts we received during these days. If we remember that there is a gift in every crisis or challenge -- in every transition of life -- we will be able to go with the flow more easily. As we discover the gift in every season, we learn to trust that loving, divine purpose behind it. Then the current of life can carry us off to new adventures, more rewarding and exciting than any we may have chosen on our own.

Yesterday I spoke about “The Eye of the Storm”. If we respond to each storm and each season from the “eye” of God's presence within, where perfect peace and wisdom dwell, we will emerge even stronger, wiser, and freer than before. We may even morph into a beautiful, free butterfly for the first time because of the inner workings of God in our lives. Lord, please give us grace for every season so we can spread our wings and fly!

Safe in the Eye of the Storm

Yesterday, I posted about BEING the eye of the storm and today I'm taking it a notch up. Oftentimes, no matter the peace and calm we represent or the peace and calm we are in, still unexpected stuff happens which really reveals whether we're just talking the talk, or actually walking the walk! Eleanor Roosevelt quoted these words to a friend: “A woman (my add: or man) is like a tea bag; you never know how strong it is until it's in hot water.”

Yesterday, Friday, July 28, 2017, 11:45 am -- I was on a mission to return a swim suit to Dillard's that I didn't use on my Mexico trip. When I exited the busy, under-construction Dallas Tollway, a car was coming fast toward me on the side road so I had to slow to a stop to let her go on by. That's when the car behind me collided into the rear end of my car. We moved to a parking lot nearby and the young man who hit me was yelling all kinds of expletives and was pacing in a rage. My car had minor damage, but his was not drivable. He had just purchased the car 3 weeks earlier. I was calm and thankful the airbag in my car didn't deploy, and that neither of us were hurt.

I called Larry and he and Staci insisted on coming to me for moral support. Before long, the young man's best friend and former employee of the Law Department of Geico Car Insurance showed up and calmed the storm in his buddy and was equally reassuring to me that his buddy was a great guy (best friends since age 6), from a great family and still lives with his parents. My heart went out to the young man -- just 3 weeks in his beautiful new car and now having to deal with this inconvenience.

Here's what came about. Insurance information was exchanged, police showed up and wrote up the report and issued the young man a citation for going so fast he couldn't stop behind me. Staci, in her usual fashion, showed the young man the hail damage on his car and said "Be sure to wrap that hail damage into the repairs" -- "All things work together for good to those who love God" (Romans 8:28) -- if he didn't love God before, maybe this accident represents the turning point for him. Both Larry and Staci, and myself, represented compassion and care for the young man. No one was hurt. No doubt the young man will be a wiser and better driver hereafter. The friend of the driver kept saying "Thank you for being so thoughtful. I've seen so many upset drivers in situations like this and you are being so kind to him." I told him "Stuff happens and the way we handle 'stuff' is what shows up at times like this." When we departed, I hugged both young men and expressed my best wishes to both.

Who knew that when I posted yesterday about being "the EYE of the storm" in situations, that the same day I'd be putting to practice what I had preached. The fact is just a couple of months ago, I was in that young man's shoes, when I ran into the back of a car. Yes, accidents happen. That's why they're called "accidents". That same peace enveloped me then, too.

The calmness that lives in me isn't conjured up just for hard times. It's there 24/7. When we abide in THE ONE, Who is our peace at ALL TIMES, no matter what we encounter, we can rest assured our tea bags will ooze out God's love and God's peace in the midst of the storm. I wish you that PEACE today. I give you Jesus today -- because "He's the peace that passes all understanding." Philippians 4:7

BE the EYE of the Storm

I remember my 7th grade science class enough to know about the "eye" of the storm -- that still, calm, quiet place in the middle of a storm. As I read the post I made 7 years ago during one of the greatest storms of our lives, I realized that God kept us in the "eye" of the storm throughout the storm. And that made me think about how we can actually BE the eye of the storm when we are present and in the middle of situations, conflicts, stresses, circumstances and controversies.

The closer we become to God, the more we'll take on His characteristics: peace, calm, love, joy, kindness, etc., and the more we'll be able to bring about all those characteristics in situations we may be in or encounter. So, if we represent His peace in the middle of chaos, then even our presence, can cause peace to come to the storm. The atmosphere of the storm can change simply because we are so calm and peaceful. I urge you to read this post that I made 7 years ago and see how He can make us the EYE of the storm around us.

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Dr. Whirlwind and Dr. Peace -- Relax. Trust Me. (July, 2010)
Seven years ago my sweetheart was taken to the hospital. We were in another "emergency" situation with his health.

We were faced with yet another major decision. Our primary Neurosurgeon (NS) was enjoying himself as he rode in the Tour de France. His partner was acting in his behalf -- handling our case. Unlike our Neurosurgeon, this NS was hyper, abrupt, negative, and sincerely lacked the "bedside manner" that we had been used to. When it appeared that Ron's kidneys were not functioning, when his legs were losing feeling, when a mileogram indicated that his spinal cord was being compressed, and when lab results were unfavorable, this NS said "I don't want to operate!!! I don't want to operate!!! But I will not have you go paralyzed under my watch, so I must operate! Tomorrow morning, we'll see what the lab reports say and then we'll operate if your kidney function numbers are better!! I'm posting NPO (no food or water) after midnight on your door! I'll see you in the morning" Whew!!! Whirlwind in……take a deep breath…..PEACE OUT!

It was then that I grabbed Karen's hand (Ron's sister) and said "Let's go for a walk around the hospital!" As we did, we prayed for God to encamp His angels around the hospital, for God's healing touch to Ron, for wisdom and knowledge to our medical team, and then, God gave us a sincere desire to see our stand-in NS touched by God's love, to witness the Light of Jesus in us, and to experience the same peace that we were experiencing. As we made our 6th round, we noticed lying on the grass at the corner of the hospital grounds was a Mama cat and her baby. They watched us intently, and never flinched. Immediately, we could sense God saying to us "RELAX -- peace -- I am with you -- Trust Me!" We made our final and 7th round, and just as we had not seen the cats in rounds one to five, they were gone on the 7th, but those words resonated within us. We came back to the hospital room and Ron, Staci, our daughter and her husband, Larry, were singing and praising God for the answer we knew He would give us the next morning. We went to sleep that night, completely at peace, knowing that God would be orchestrating the plans for the next day.

Early, the next morning, we were awakened by the lab technicians to draw the blood for the lab tests. At 6:30 am, our stand-in NS (aka Dr. Whirlwind) came in the room exasperated, saying "I'm so upset! The labs are not in yet and I have a surgery at St. John's in 15 minutes. I have a full day of patients that I will have to reschedule. Let me check your legs. They appear stronger. I believe you're stable. So, are we going to operate or not?" Ron, so at peace, replied, "I don't think so; I think we'll wait until next week!" Then Ron shared about his Dad's healing of cancer and lived another 15 years. We watched Dr. Whirlwind calm down, relax and experience a few moments of peace -- even though he was late for his next surgery. I asked him if he liked his work. He said, "Yes, but I can't stop thinking about it -- at work or when not at work." I said, "Then you are a dedicated, gifted physician and, obviously, God called you to do what you do. We're going to pray that He gives you balance and that you find peace." To that, he let me hug him and, in a complete shift in demeanor, he gave us his best wishes, and peaceably removed the NPO sign off the door. Ron enjoyed a hearty breakfast. Later that day, the lab results came in. Ron's kidney functions were drastically improved, his legs were stronger and we relaxed in knowing that God would cradle us in His arms….until our primary NS would return to Tulsa.

When our NS, Dr. Tomacek aka Dr. "Peace", returned, he reviewed all the excitement we'd been through in his absence and gave us his optimistic expectations about the surgery he would do in a couple of days. He told us that while in France, he went to Notre Dame de Lourdes. He said he saw thousands of people coming there for healing, and he prayed for us. I told Ron, "I choose to believe that Doc received a healing touch so much so that when he operates on Thursday, that his hands which were touched by God, will impart that healing to you." I was bold enough to believe that God uses many different ways to bring healing to us.

The next night, my sister-in-law, Karen, and my dear friend, Sheila Michie, and I, took another march/walk around the hospital. With the same fervor, determination, and faith, we expected the same peace that carried us that far in our faith journey to carry us through that surgery and onto complete wholeness. We looked for the Mama Cat and her baby. They didn't show up, but we still heard the words "Relax. Trust Me." And we did.

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And, to you, today, my dear friends and family, I pray you not only encounter He who is our peace in the middle of the storms you are facing today, but that you BECOME the peace (the EYE of the storm) that settles the score.....John 14:27 “I’m leaving you at peace. I’m giving you my own peace. I’m not giving it to you as the world gives. So don’t let your hearts be troubled, and don’t be afraid."