Learning to Lean

It's THAT time of year again.

I had forgotten all about it... until the news of a pre-season tropical depression brought it to the fore.  It was nowhere near my neck of the woods - but still...

It took a while for me to realise that I was holding my breath.  I guess I wasn't quite over it after all...

The year was 1988, and I watched from the front door as zinc sheets flew from the hills to settle in and around the areas surrounding the house where we lived with our mother.  All was quiet on our street, and we felt for sure that we would escape the wrath of Hurricane Gilbert.  After all, friends had left their homes for the safety of ours... and why would Gilbert presume to take what Allen had not?

During a period of calm, I headed to my bedroom and nodded off to 'the land of dreams'.  My next memory is the sound of the ceiling caving in... SPLAT! {The rafters and zinc sheets had long gone, and the cellotex was waterlogged}.  I opened my eyes to behold the heavens, as droplets caressed my face.

I have not slept through a hurricane since then!

Two decades have long drifted into eternity - and high school, college, adulthood, professional life, marriage and motherhood have beckoned - but the 'hurricane jitters' keep recurring.  The more things change, the more they remain the same.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God." -Philippians 4:6(MKJV) 

Since to trust God implicitly is to overcome anxiety, it seems that 'hurricane jitters' is not my primary problem... Trusting is.

Lord, I have absolutely no control over the elements, but You do.  For 21 years, I have held my breath through every hurricane season... exhaling only at the end of each season.  No more.  I place myself in Your Almighty hands and I thank you for Your amazing grace.  Give me Your peace, I pray... in Jesus' name.