Stormy weather

The storm of the century hit the country yesterday and I am so thankful that we really only caught the edge of it. We were forecast widespread ice up to 4" thick due to freezing rain, but in our area the precipitation was just rain after about 3am and does not seem to have done much damage.

For you who are not familiar with this kind of weather, it doesn't just impact the road, but power lines and trees can come down with the weight of the ice.

When I looked out this morning it was so pretty. Our trees are coated with ice, so every tiny branch looks like it's made of glass. I don't know if you can see it in the pictures here...

Of course, the schools are opening 2 hours late, which means that Emma misses Physical Therapy again. At this rate she'll be lucky to get therapy once a month, let alone every week.

Scott's working for a company in the city doing maintenance work right now. It's not a full-time position but they have been keeping him busy. And because it's inside, the weather does not affect him like it does on many construction jobs outside. No word on getting any union work, long or short term, it seems to be as scarce as it's ever been.

I read a book on Wednesday (the whole book in 4 hours!) instead of watching TV when the kids were in bed. The Land Between uses the story of the Israelites wandering in the desert, between the slavery they left in Egypt heading to the promised land.

They had never experienced a relationship with God during their enslavement, so when they found themselves literally in a desert with nothing they had to choose to either trust God - that he loved them and would provide (after all he did rescue them from slavery as they had prayed)...
The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. ⁸ So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey. Exodus 3:7-8

or would they deny the truth they had heard of their forefathers Abraham and Joseph, and grumble, complain and take matters into their own hands...
So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?” Exodus 15:24
In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” Exodus 16:2-3
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. Exodus 32:7-8

The Israelites struggled to trust God. Even though God had been faithful to keep his promises to all, and even provided bread from heaven, literally - Then the LORD said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.” Exodus 16: 4-5

What was the purpose of experiencing this total dependence on God in the wilderness? Because they were going to inherit the promised land, the purpose for which they were chosen. It would not come without struggles and battles, for which they would need to have a solid faith in God if they were to find success.

We may have avoided the ice storm, but there are constantly storms raging all around us in life. While our faith can build when we are in a quiet time and things are going smoothly, it is during the times of great testing that we truly learn to trust God and experience his power in our lives.

We've done all we can to secure our position financially - within God's will. Now we are in his hands, and their is no safer place to be.