Overcoming

The day began gray and gloomy.  After a month of very hot, very dry days and nights, today and tonight we are getting heavy rain and winds.  Creeks and roadways are flooding.  Schools are delayed for tomorrow.  Trees are falling.  Power outages are growing. The darkness is black and heavy.
     Strangely, as much as the earth needs the rain, as desperate as the cracked, parched ground is for relief, when it comes all at once, it's too much.  Overwhelmed.  The word describes the earth as it attempts to soak up every drop of rain.  Oddly enough, it won't be able to take it all in because it was so dry to begin with.
     Tomorrow the rain will pass and creation will relax.  The waters will roll from streams to creeks to the river.  The puddles will absorb into the ground, and because of it all, the brown grass will turn green and begin to grow.  The air will be cleaner, cooler, and we will welcome the sun.
     My day has been like this. Even as I awoke, I felt gray and gloomy.  Did you ever wake up feeling yucky like that?  Just like the individual raindrops converge to flood the ground, little doubts and frustrations gathered and grew to flood my thoughts.  None of these things was huge on it's own, but together they combined to make me feel like I was caught up in flood waters rushing over me, sweeping me away. 
     It won't happen.  I will not be washed away.  Just like the rain will soak into the ground and the grass will turn green, I will overcome the storm that entered my world today.
     I wonder if you, like I, have times like this in your life.  Flash flooding of worries, concerns, and emotions can come at the most unexpected times.  What do you do when you feel the crush upon you?  Some of us lash out at the people closest to us.  Some of us withdraw into a shell of helplessness.  We feel alone, isolated.  Oh, but we aren't.  As God's child, we have the security that absolutely nothing, nothing can separate us from Him. 
    Flash floods are aptly named.  I was caught in one last spring. The experience was terrifying.  I couldn't turn down any side road to escape.  The only way out was straight through.  Carefully and cautiously I moved forward.  I slowed down.  Speeding was not an option.  I drove with extreme care, praying the whole way through.  I made it to the other side.  Victory!
    My friend, we must choose our way carefully when the pressures, concerns, worries, and doubts of life engulf us. Keep your eyes on the Lord.  Don't look away.  Don't allow these difficulties to distract you from being who God created you to be.  You must understand that there will be gloomy days.  We read in I Peter that life will contain times of sufferings.  We also have the promise that God takes all the things in our life and uses them for good IF we are His child. There is no flood without rain, but that storm also bring the rainbow.  In the same way, there is no victory without a battle.  Read Romans 8; it is full of great teachings!  Most importantly, remember that as a child of God, a woman who has trusted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior, nothing you have ever done or will do will be held against you.  When you feel weak and overwhelmed, find comfort in knowing the Spirit of God is praying for you.  Finally, always, always remind yourself that no thing, no situation, no failure on your part, nor any person that can take you away from the love of God.
     It may be gloomy today, but with the help of God, you will overcome!   Rejoice in the Lord always.  Again I will say, rejoice!  Let your gentleness be know to all, the Lord is at hand.  Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made know to God; and the peoce of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 4: 4-7) 
Vicki