Recurring Themes and Irene

Do you have recurring themes in your life? I do. I think many people do. One of mine is weather prayers. I remember the first time it even entered my mind to pray about weather issues. It was in the early 1980's, and I had had a dream about a tornado. It wasn't the first time. (another recurring theme, but that's another story) It left a strong impression on me as I went through my day, and I remember that sometime in the midddle of the day, we had the first ever that I could remember tornado watch here on Long Island. I remember the radio announcer being somewhat incredulous as he reported it. That just doesn't happen here. So I didn't know what to think about that, or what to do either. I called a friend and told her about the dream, and that I thought the Lord had given me a warning about the tornado. What should I do about this? Do I pray that it would be stopped?  She thought about it, and she said it sounded like a good idea; I thought so too. 

I was a very young believer at the time and had no idea of this kind of praying, or if a person could expect God to answer this kind of prayer. But I asked. And we didn't have a tornado. We had a warm and sunny and calm day. I was really glad. My kids were in school, and I had no way to get to them as we had only one car at the time. I had no idea what you needed to do to be safe in a tornado. And no desire to visit Oz.

Whatever the reason for no tornado, it built my faith to pray weather prayers.I believe it was God stopping by, and He encouraged  me to pray for things I knew little or nothing about.

Many years later, when my mother lay dying in a hospital in Siler City,North Carolina, I went and stayed there with her for 3 weeks. It was a hard time for all of us, but especially for my father. I spent the nights in the hospital, and my father and my aunt took the day shift. It was winter, and although the winters are milder there, it was cold and one late night we were getting a snowstorm. I prayed and asked the Lord to please hold back the snow, or could He please turn it into rain if we really needed the precipitation. I was worried about my father driving to the hospital as they don't really know how to handle snow down south; they rarely get any and don't have snow removal equipment or salt. You take your chances if you drive before it melts. The road to the hospital is windey and has no shoulders, not so good for an eighty year old man to be driving during a snow storm. It was snowing lightly in the morning when my father and aunt arrived, with no accumulation except on the grass. My aunt was full of news about the storm and kind of bewildered too.  "The weatherman showed a map of the storm, and it made a circle all around Siler City. In the middle it was completely clear. They never saw anything like it." Neither had we. I was so thankful. God is so good.

I prayed about this last storm we got too. Hurricane Irene. I pray differently now, and just as Jesus did, I tell the wind and waves to be still. I prayed that Irene would turn and go out to sea. I prayed that she would be what her name means; Peace. I prayed for protection for people in the path of the storm. I prayed for no loss of life and for no property damage. I prayed for the animals too; where do they go to be safe? I know lots of other people pray about storms too. We have varying degrees of success. I don't know why that is, but I believe it is worse when we don't pray at all. Irene did lots of damage. I think there would have been much more if no one prayed. I wish I had more wisdom and answers to the questions that many have as they read this, but I don't. I do know that I will pray the next time we get a hurricane or tornado or tsunami or earthquake or any other extreme weather or geological occurance warning.

Irene means peace. What I found this time around is that in the midst of the storm, I had peace. I was not afraid. I made preparations in case of power outages or floods, and stocked up on food and water. But not too much. I didn't think we were going to need it. We didn't. But many others did and still do. Some of our family lives in an area that was ravaged by flooding. Their need is great. Their neighbors too. Some have lost everything. There isn't much I can do. I can't go there; I can't help them clean up or try to salvage what they can, or even hug them and tell them it will get better. But in the meantime, I can pray.

this is not a lake, this is the flood zone in Middleburg.