Growing up in South Florida, I got to live through several major hurricanes, countless tropical storms and seemingly thousands of the thunderstorms that you encounter living in the tropics. There were times where it seemed as though the rain and lightening would never end. Just day after day of storms. No time to enjoy the beauty of the tropical life in the midst of torrential downpours, howling winds and lightening that was so crazy that you would have thought the sky had become a giant strobe light.
During a certain time of year, every day was a rainy day. The only glimmer of hope for a dry day was when it went from raining cats and dogs to just a steady, slight drizzle. Even when the sun was shining, it was raining. If you’ve ever seen Forrest Gump, it was similar to his time in Vietnam. You were just going to have to be ok with being drenched. All the time.
That’s how life has been for some time for us. It seems as though the storm is about to pass and then the next wave hits. And it storms and storms. Life just keeps on happening. As each battle finishes, the next one is just beginning.
I can remember Hurricane Andrew when I was young. It’s the first hurricane that I can remember going through. It was all new to me. Having to run to the store to get food, water and batteries and watching the chaos all throughout the store as literally millions of other people were doing the same. Waiting in line at the gas station for extremely long amounts of time to fill up the car. Trying to find plywood to cover the windows as the lumber shelves were bare.
Then the storm came. It didn’t take long for the power to go out, so we couldn’t watch what was happening on tv anymore. We did have a battery powered radio and could listen to all of the updates the news channels were putting out. The whole time, the winds were howling outside like I had never heard before. The rain was hitting the house so hard it sounded like rocks being thrown into the windows. The creaks and groans of the wood holding the roof together. So many flashes of lightening, nonstop. You could almost see everything flying around through the air even though it was night and pitch black with all of the power out everywhere.
As we listened to the radio, we didn’t quite realize how comforting it was to have some connection to the outside world. After a couple of hours, the news broadcast that the National Hurricane Center had been destroyed by the storm. And that’s when it hit the fan. That building wasn’t supposed to be destroyed by a hurricane, but in the middle of the storm it collapsed. I can remember the look of fear in my parents faces after that. They tried to look calm and collected, but I was old enough to be able to see the terror behind the smiles.
We made it through the night. And it was a very long night with nobody sleeping. And then came the long days after the storm. Trying to help clean up fallen trees in the neighborhood, cook all of our meals on the grill and just trying to survive and recover from the hellish night that just passed. The next week or so seemed like it would never end. No power meant no A/C. No power meant no TV or video games. We had to sit in the dark and try to play cards by candle light.
But the thing with a major storm like a hurricane is that there is a beautiful calm once it’s over. For the first several days, the weather was gorgeous. The sky was clear, there was a constant gentle breeze and it wasn’t the usual sitting on the surface of the sun kind of heat that we would have normally had that time of year. All that destruction brought with it some beauty. And some time to actually see it.
Life has been kicking me in the face. Repeatedly. Non stop. It’s like Hurricane Andrew. We sat in the dark, hoping and praying that everything would be ok. I have spent many nights recently sitting in the dark and hoping and praying that it will work out. Begging God for a miracle. Praying to not lose that tiny little glimmer of hope that I was trying so desperately to hold onto while the winds raged all around me. Listening to the sounds of my world crashing down around me.
I have been able to feel that terror that my parents felt that night. I have tried to become a more positive person, able to give more of my fears over to God. As much as I could prepare for this storm, you can never be fully prepared. You can never feel fully safe. This round of storms hit hard and fast. Unrelenting in their ferocity, rocking me to my very core. I seriously began to listen to the voice of the enemy shouting at me that God wasn’t listening, he wasn’t coming to live up to His promise of provision.
We were able to get help through the first wave of storm and then we got hit hard again. Once again, I was beat down to the point of feeling absolutely crippled by the beating. I was ready to just give up. I had found my breaking point and was very quickly coming up on it. My glimmer of hope was slipping through my grip, about to blow away with the howling winds.The tiny candle light of faith that I had remaining almost extinguished.
But I kept on trying to wrestle with God. I kept shouting my frustrations and my fear. I told Him how angry I was that my world was collapsing. Everything that I had worked so hard for hanging on by a thread. Each time I shouted at Him, I realized that I was still talking to Him. Each time I wanted to throw way my faith, I realized that I still had faith. The more I looked, the more that I could see He was there with us each step of the way. I could see Him gently nudging and hoping that I would catch on.
Through these storms, we have been blessed by our families and our church family. No matter how isolated we have felt, we’ve been surrounded by love. His love and the love of people around us. We have somehow made it through this very difficult round of storms and we’re just waiting for the sky to clear and the beauty to unfold. We’re on clean up mode, removing the trees from the roads of our lives and figuring out how to cook a can of beans over some tea candles.
No matter how bad the storm rages, there is beauty when it passes.
Journey Through Faith 