By Carol Round – “He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge”— Psalm 91:4 (NIV).
Tornado sirens were blaring as my dog and I took refuge in my walk-in closet. My cell phone was beeping with updates. A tornado was headed to our city.
It wasn’t the first time I had taken refuge while a tornado was nearby. I experienced a tornado on March 30, 2016, while taking shelter in my walk-in closet. It has been eight years since an EF2- tornado hit my house, leaving damage in its path. Surely, it wouldn’t happen again.
As the tornado roared over my house, I prayed. Then, I heard the Holy Spirit whisper, “The Lord will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings, you will find refuge.” Peace settled over me like a soft blanket and my heart rate slowed. After the storm had passed over, I left my closet and found my house shrouded in darkness.
When Darkness Surrounds Us
Using my cell phone light, I located a flashlight. I knew the electricity would not return for a while. Immediately, I called my youngest son when I learned the same tornado was headed toward him and his family.
They had already sheltered in their in-ground storm cellar. Later, I learned the tornado had skipped over their house but destroyed completely or partially other homes located nearby in the rural area where he lives. I told my son, “I was praying for your safety and to be protected from the storm.” God answered.
The next morning, I was reading one of my daily devotions in The Upper Room. That day’s scripture was the same one the Holy Spirit whispered to me during the storm. “[The Lord] will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge” (Psalm 91:4). I called my son to share, knowing that God had His hand on my family.
In God’s Hands
Since we were without electricity, my son’s family and I spent the night in one of a nearby town’s hotels. It was a nice reprieve from all the destruction around us and an opportunity to be a witness to others.
While staying at the hotel, I took the opportunity to minister to others who were seeking shelter. Each individual with whom I visited shared their stories. Although many had lost part or all of their property, they were grateful to be alive.
However, one family’s story touched me more than the others. As the father shared with me, I learned they couldn’t afford house insurance and didn’t know where they would live. Their house had been flattened by the EF-3 tornado. After praying with him, I said, “God is with you.”
God is With Us
From the look on the father’s face, I sensed he and his family didn’t have a relationship with God. Since then, I have prayed for the family, hoping that if they don’t know Jesus as their Savior and Lord, they will experience Him through the helping hands of those who live in our city and the ones who have traveled here to help cut up large trees, tarp and repair roofs and provide free meals as well as spiritual, mental and emotional assistance.
Visiting a close friend whose life was forever changed by the tornado damage, she said, “It is overwhelming but I am grateful we are all alive. Things can be replaced. I know God was with us.”
At times like this, our faith is tested. I am reminded of what James wrote: “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing” (James 1:2-4 NLT). Indeed, God is all we need. Thank you, Abba Father, for your mercies are new each morning.
[…] By Carol Round – “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world”— John 16:33 (NLT). […]
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