You're going to be okay....

The wind roared through the old growth fir and cedar trees surrounding our little house in the city. The branches creaked and groaned as they whipped back and forth.  Fir cones fell, drumming on the roof then sounding like the scratching of little rodent feet as they rolled off the roof to the ground.  The rain pelted against the windows.  I lay awake in our bed there in darkness, praying that no branches or trees would fall on our house or our cars.  Then I began to pray over the neighbors too, us all here in this neighborhood surrounded by trees.  Even if my husband had awakened from his deep sleep and told me it was going to be okay,  his words were no guarantee of our safety in the midst of the storm.  Some things are just out of our control.  Some things we have to trust into the hands of the only One Who can help us.

When morning came, the wind and rain had died down.  The only evidence of the storm was the debris left behind in our yard, all of it small branches. Thank God.  Then on my run through the neighborhood I saw that one of my neighbors hadn't been so lucky.  A huge branch stretched the full length of their uncovered front porch.  It had split off the top of a tall tree in their yard and fallen on their porch, but not on their house with them inside sleeping.  Thank God.

Mid-morning my husband called me from his office at the church.  His voice told me something was wrong.  His mother, who's been lost in that foggy world called Alzheimers these past years, isn't doing well physically now.  He and his siblings have to make the hard decisions of what medical treatments to agree to or to decline.  Childhood wounds in their relationship with their mother complicate things.  How do you heal a relationship with a person who doesn't even know who you are anymore?  It's in situations like these that the words it's going to be okay fall short.  Nothing can make all of this kind of storm okay.

There's a vast difference between the words "it's going to be okay" and "you're going to be okay".  There's truth that can be backed up with Truth in those words. You're going to be okay because this life is more than houses, is more than cars, is more than any thing you possess.   You're going to be okay because no matter what you face, what you go through, Jesus emphatically promises to never leave you or to let go of you.  You're going to be okay because this life isn't all there is to those who are in Christ Jesus. You're going to be okay because when you willed to say the words, "I forgive you" the spirit can hear what the mind can't comprehend.  The Holy Spirit heard those words too, and can act on those words in supernatural ways that you can't even imagine.  I can tell you with confidence, "You're going to be okay."

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