As I stood in my kitchen on Thursday evening gripped with fear; I mean the entire south east coast was being mandated to evacuate and we only live about an hour inland! I didn't know if staying was the right choice, but I didn't know where we would go at that point either. In that moment as I was ready to burst into tears gripped with fear, I looked down and saw an index card with one of our Bible Verse of the week from a few weeks ago. "In Peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone Lord make me dwell in safety." It was like God placed it right there at that moment to let me know He had me and no matter what my family and I would be safe. It brought me the peace I needed and reminded that God is my ultimate protector! I was ready to go to bed and wake up Friday face the storm head on!!
All day Friday the storm wind blew. We hunkered down in our living room ready to face the storm. We put mattresses in front of our windows in our living room creating a safe room. We had dinner prepared, we had coolers with drinks and ice, and snacks on hand. The candles were lit. Whatever was going to happen was going to happen. God was in control.
God spared us. The winds only got up to about 30/40 mph . We did loose power and some big tree branches and trees fell down. Right down the street the neighbors transformer blew and the top of the pole snapped off causing the wires to fall into my neighbor's driveway. I think 100,000 people were without power in Clay County. All weekend it was hard to find gas and most of the shelves at the stores were bare. For a couple of days nothing was even open! We went without power and water for 3 days, finally getting it back on Sunday evening. (A shout out here to ALL The men that came in and worked their butts off to get us back up and running! Thank you soo much!!)
But how quickly I forgot how blessed I was, when I woke up this morning feeling Overwhelmed by the dismay of my home. And I'll be honest my husband left for the day and didn't even pick up after himself and I was instantly annoyed. I really just wanted to wake up and do school and get back into our routine. But there was no way to do school when the house was a complete disaster! First the whole house had to be put back together.
So I straightened up a little bit and decided to take some time with God.My attitude stunk and I needed a readjustment. I You Tubed Encouragement for the home school mom and came across this verse: Exodus 14:14 "The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still.(Hold your peace and remain at rest)." In that moment I threw in the towel and surrendered my plans for the day to allow God to do His. I wanted to do school, but knew I wasn't prepared. The house was a mess and mentally I wasn't ready. `And that is OK! Deep down I want to do things perfectly. I wish it was easier for me to balance it all, I wish I did more with my kids, was better at cleaning and budgeting etc....but the truth I am not perfect. When I stop trying to be I am able to get things done with a good attitude. When I stop trying to do everything on my own and rest in God I find I can get more done and I have enough energy (no matter how much sleep I got the night before) and I will have peace while doing it.
After my time with God I just felt led to share my thoughts in this short video :)
Hope you too are safe after the storm, that you have a blessed day and feel a little encouraged despite any storm you may be facing! Thank you for taking the time to read my blog!! xoxoxo
Heather
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