Lessons from Sandy from Women in My Life

With Hurricane - excuse me, Frankenstorm - Sandy on the way, everyone in the Northeast Corridor is scurrying hither and thither to prepare: grocery run, extra batteries, back-up plan should power be out for a week or more.  Needless to say, it's more stressful than the typical weekend around here.

On the eve of its arrival, Sandy has also meant opportunities for Christians to trust and obey.  Amy was super anxious Friday night, after email after email at work warning her of the possible extent of the devastation.  So anxious, in fact, that she interrupted the usual Friday night dinner routine by asking us to all hold hands and pray, and as she prayed, she called on God to grant her the peace that comes from calling on Him.  I appreciated the reminder and the action.

Later that evening, as we told the kids of all the things that might happen - no electricity, flooding, trees falling on our car - Jada said, "God is bigger than all of that, though, right?"  Again, a good reminder, in the midst of worrying, since there's a difference between worrying without God in the picture versus worrying with God in the picture.

The next morning, I got an email from our pastor, who said a church event was being cancelled, asking how we were all doing in making preparations, and urging us to reach out to those around us as well as those more vulnerable within our church family, to make sure they were OK.  The lesson was undeniable: seeing God in the situation means doing more than internally worrying, but rather being at peace and taking action to serve others.

I'm glad for these reminders - I needed to be reminded - and glad for these people in my life to give them to me.  I hope you have been reminded as well as you go about your preparations.  Let's see how it all plays out.