When I was little I remember either my parents or grandparents telling me that thunder is the angels bowling and the lightning is a strike. This was oddly comforting and made the storms something of a treasure as they didn’t come quite so often. The day my granddad died it stormed, oh did it storm. My parents sat in the car waiting for the rain to let up so they could come back in the house and let us kids know of grandpas passing. Twice in the last several weeks of travel the rain poured down so hard at times that it seemed like a sheet of water rather than drops. As the miles passed I was reminded of the talent show where this guy made a rain storm employing the audience, asking us to follow along with him snapping our fingers at first creating a gentle rain, to stamping our feet and smacking our knees creating a driving rain. The memory was so strong that I could see this guy walking back and forth with each step the rain storm becoming stronger, and back to a gentle rain as the storm passed.
Both storms made me drive with a lot of caution, making sure that enough space existed for me to stop safely if something happened in front of me. And then there was the flash flooding. Oh good grief! I drove through this one temporary road stream not having a clue how deep it was, causing a strong wake and splashing on either side of the vehicle. Thankfully no other vehicle was near me as that kind of thing is a bit scary. Let’s not mention the temporary pond.
While driving through this I thought about a few things including the brunch on Saturday where I’m leading our time together. I finally found a scripture that I hope to share. Then, while driving through more standing water (this rain was intense!) I started thinking about pride, and arrogance. My own pride and arrogance. Sometimes I wonder how God is going to use these for my growth in holiness, and sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever let go of these because they make learning and being open to God’s leading so very difficult.These sometimes lead to a twisted version of “I’m not good enough for this” and “I’ll never get this” and “this is ugly” and “insert some other mean phrase here”, sometimes this is pride in disguise. Last week while expressing, yet again, some kind of angst to a friend she shared an article that I’ve been reading on/off all week. I see that my priorities are all out of whack. This is leading to, like the disciples, being freaked out by the storm. I’m reminded, I love storms like many people what I have a hard time with, and get freaked out about is spiritual storms. and then I remember:
“Peace! Be Still.” Jesus said to the storm causing fear in the hearts of the disciples with him in the boat
I’m reminded that in the middle of the storm, in all the freaking out, Jesus is showing us that storms are nothing to be feared, that we can rest in them, with Him, right there.Over and again in the last few months I’ve heard “Trust me” as a storm rages about. “Trust me” comes over and again in the prayer time, in the driving time, in the conversations with my Sweetie, in the work.
Trust me
I had the opportunity to give a trunk show (the quilts!) and a talk (machine quilting) at a guild show in Pennsylvania. It is in doing this where I experienced something barely describable, it is a place of great joy, and freedom. It is a place of sharing, and of giving. I’ve spoken of getting so into the work that the rest of the world disappears. It is a place of encouraging, and of being encouraged through the offering of all that I’ve learned over the last 25 years as a quilt maker. So I’m reordering priorities prayer time, creative time, work.
It is the prayer time and the creative time that will feed the work. That will bring joy into the work because my priorities are well ordered. Then the storms that come along won’t be so overwhelming. I’ll be, as I should, giving to Jesus the things that belong. Please pray for me through this storm. I’m off for some creative, and some work time. May you find Jesus in all you do today.
God bless,
Teri
A Quilter's Heart 