Sept 16,2020
I’ve been up since about 3am. Never really sleeping at all this nite. The power went out around 9. It scared the girls but they got the candles going. It’s now 603am. A time we are normally up and in showers getting ready for school and work but instead hurricane Sally is beating down on us.
We have the front windows boarded up but not the back. I’m beginning to wonder now if that was a wise decision. I’ve been listening to the howling wind and screeching rain since 3am. The rain beats on the back windows hollering, “let me in!” But the windows are holding up. I have paced from front door to back door looking at the intensity of this storm. Never in my life have I experienced a Cat 2 eyewall right over my head. It sounds like a heavy freight train in the distance running wide open over its train tracks rushing to its destination. I put my hand on my back windows and I can feel them move in and out with every gust. Pretty eerie.
The sun is normally trying to peak a little light over the horizon at this time but not today. Sally is making her way slowly through instead. Some folks who have lived here a long time says it’s similar to hurricane Frederick which came right through here on the same day Sept 16, 1979. I was but 1 and a half then living in small town North Georgia. Who would’ve thought I’d be living right here now in Sally’s path 41 years later.
The strangest thing happened though around 3am when I woke. The little solar light starburst that my mom has given me earlier this year randomly came on and was shining so brightly in the back yard through the storm. That poor starburst light hasn’t worked in weeks; yet it decided to come on in the middle of the night and shine through this eyewall. I look at it in awe through the back window. A storm like no other raging all around it but it stands firm shining through like a beacon in the night. It reminds me of Jesus’s light in our darkness, shining through our storms…of Gods love and grace and mercy throughout our lives. Even through the worst storms we literally have to go through on this earth, He’s there shining ever so brightly. Since the power went out at 9pm, there wasn’t a stitch of light in the sky. That starburst was shinning ever so brightly. We live in a fallen world. Our lives are not perfect and we will endure storms. Some of which we never thought we would. If you’re in the midst of a storm, know there is a Light shining ever so brightly for you to follow, grab hold of or just focus on. Jesus WILL see you though. It too will pass. I promise. Just hold on to HIS light. If you do not know Jesus as your light I urge you right now to receive Him as your Light and Savior.
John 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Psalm 119:105 You are the lamp unto my feet and a light on my path.
Psalm 27:1 The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?
John 9:5 “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
John 12:46 I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.