Rain, sleet, snow...HELL

It was so peaceful.  The air was crisp but not too cold.  The night sky was black but twinkled as the snowflakes began falling through the sky. They came down so fast and heavily that you could actually hear the flakes fall.  Most beautiful thing I think I have ever seen.  Watching that snowfall was like what I would imagine it to be like to have peace covering the earth.  This is the kind of snow day that you want.  At home getting to enjoy the light, fluffy snow, making snowmen and having snow ball fights with your family. It's beautiful and all is well!

Isn't it amazing that the same sort of precipitation that can create peace and bliss can also create chaos and confusion?  That peaceful snow laying on the ground this week was a sheet of ice the weeks before. What is causing people to laugh and make snow angels now was earlier causing people to wreck and abandon their cars because they had no traction and no way to move.  Roads blocked.  Chaos abounding.

The same winter storm that came through dropping snow on us brought rain, sleet, snow and hail to other parts of the state and neighboring states.  That freezing rain became an ice storm that shut down Atlanta and parts of the east coast. And just when you thought it couldnt get worse, it did. They had major power outages and the cities were brought to a standstill.  North Carolina got slammed and people were out in the roads just like we were a few weeks ago.

It's just like life, isn't it?  Just as your cruising along in your "I got this thing under control" attitude and thinking my world couldn't get any better, the rug is pulled out from under you.  You've got the peaceful snowflakes falling all around you, but are you ready for the ice storms?  Are you ready for power outages? How prepared are you to withstand the rain, the snow, the sleet....the Hell?

It's easy to coast along with joy, peace, patience, kindness...all the fruits of the spirit that we should walk in daily when things are going good.  But what about when all hell breaks loose?  Can you weather the storm and maintain that blanket of peace, joy and happiness?  Or are you that patch of remnant snow found on the side of the road that is misshapen and dirty, slowly falling apart and an eyesore to passersby?  How quickly do we lose our peace when life throws us a winter storm? How quickly do those fruits melt away?

I have come to realize that we need to be in a constant state of preparation. We know the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy, but we may not know when or where. You may not have enough time to be warned and able to go get "supplies" to survive the storm.  You've got to be stockpiling now!

Your survival kit to weather the storm:
1.  Pray. Pray without ceasing.  Your circumstances may not change, but your attitude will!

Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live. 
1 Thess. 5:16-18

2. Worship. Let worship help change your perspective. As our Pastor always says, don't tell God how big your problems are, tell your problems how big your God is.

Let every living, breathing creature praise God!  Psalm 150

3. The Word.  Be in it so much that when circumstances turn bad, you know who to turn to and you know what to speak.  You have to be in it for you to become it!  

But they delight in the law of the LORD, meditating on it day and night. 
Psalm 1:2

4. A support structure. You need to have a Godly inner circle that can hold you accountable and help you maneuver through the storms when you are stranded. 

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Ecc. 4:9-10

Seems simple doesn't it?  Only 4 things in your survival kit that you need to equip you to withstand any storm that sweeps your way.  I consider these 4 things to be vital in being able to weather a storm!  Do you have other things that should be added to the kit?  Check your supplies now, so that you are ready when the storm hits.  Don't wait...and continue to stockpile the supplies so that you have a surplus to use when the winter storm warning is called! 

Preparedness results in peace.  

 I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”  John 16.33

Just DO it!

The last two weeks we have experienced some crazy weather.  From snow to ice to 70 degree weather, it's been a bit of a roller coaster winter.  Being stranded at work for two days caused me to think about being prepared for the uncertain. I was very fortunate to have been someplace where I had a pillow and blanket, food to eat, a bathroom...some others experienced a little more struggle as they were stranded on the road or even abandoned their vehicles to walk.  After Snowmageddon 2014, I said I would not be caught unprepared.  I decided that I would have a bag that I would keep in my car with extra clothing, blanket, toiletries, and snacks in case I ended up somewhere where I might be stuck for a while. This past week as we thought we might be experiencing round 2 of Snowmageddon, I realized that I did not have that bag yet.  Yep!  Here I was saying all along how I wanted to be prepared, but yet I wasn't willing to take the necessary steps to do it.  I had procrastinated.  I had delayed.  I had thought, "I'll do it tomorrow".  Sound familiar?

The roads were crazy!  People had to leave their cars and start walking. Many pictures of the day made it look like it was the rapture.  The cars were just left where they were and no one around. I wonder if this is how end times will be?  Makes the realization that people need to know Jesus even more urgent.  But as I write this blog mainly for myself, family and friends that read this, most of us know Jesus!  And yes, most of us need to be reminded by disasters such as this that our time is short and we need to share Jesus with others.  But I think it goes even deeper for us believers.  How prepared are we to live this life on earth, knowing Jesus, but not walking in His fullness?  How prepared are you?

Are you praying and believing for healing in your body?  Are you praying for someone to be delivered from addiction?  Are you praying for a marriage to be restored? A relationship to be reconciled?  Are you praying for financial breakthrough?  Are you praying about it; yet, DOING nothing to prepare for it? 
As I was reading in the one year chronological bible a few days ago in Exodus 12:11, I was amazed at what God told the Isrealites.  He was preparing them for the destruction of Egypt and gave them specific instructions on how to be spared during the passover.  He told them not only what to eat, but how to eat it:  "These are your instructions for eating this meal: Be fully dressed, wear your sandals, and carry your walking stick in your hand. Eat the meal with urgency, for this is the LORD's Passover."

God wanted to make sure that they were ready.  Committed.  Fully Clothed in Faith.  Prepared.  

Are you ready?  Ready to receive the answer to the miracle you are praying for?  If you're praying for healing in your body, are you honoring and respecting your body as God's holy temple so that you can walk in that full healing?  If you are praying for your marriage to be restored, are you doing all you can to be ready for that restoration- attending small groups, marriage conference, gaining strong mentors and accountability partners so that your union can be fully restored?  If you're praying for financial breakthrough, are you practicing Godly principles that will allow you to mange that miracle?  If not, then God is telling you to get prepared!  Be dressed and ready to walk.  The definition of preparation is willing to do something...so DO something.  Clothe yourself in the faith that God will answer your miracle.  Romans 4:17 says that God "calls the things that are not as though they are".  Your preparation will allow you to walk in that miracle now as though it IS, so that when your miracle comes to fruition, you ARE fully able to receive it!  

Ask God to show you ways that you need to be prepared and don't wait.  Just DO it!  DO it now!