A Woman's View

Flooding. Tornadoes. Misery. When challenges overwhelm, where do we turn?

Doesn't it seem like the cup of misery is overflowing lately? 

News reports continually feature shots of flooding along the rivers. Water  stretches for miles.

Every one of the homes now almost submerged was the center of family life not long ago. 

That water swirls with  mosquitoes, with snakes, some of them poisonous, and even a few alligators.

Those who've been flooded out and now live in shelters or with relatives can only watch and wait, knowing what they'll find when they get back in.

Thousands of acres of farmland are flooded, too Farmers can do nothing but wait, even though it's crucial for them to be able to get into their fields. If crops don't have a full growing season they won't be ready to harvest before the first killing frost.

Farmers can't forget how all this will affect their year's income. No crop, no income.

Then there are the tornadoes. You could snap photos like this all across the Midwestern and southern states. Destruction stretches for miles.

I won't say, "They lost everything," because it's not true. So long as their family members are alive and well, they have everything that matters, as so many of them said. 

But what can they do when their hearts are breaking? Where can they find strength to go on?

I only know one answer: Come to Jesus. Today I was on misery overload, so I did what I often do, played this Chris Rice song over and over. Somehow this song always speaks to my heart. I hope it blesses you, too.

Chris Rice, "Come to Jesus"

So, my friends, whatever challenges you face, may you find your answers in Jesus.

Peace and joy,

Lenore

As one woman told an interviewer, "It's all gone. Nothing will ever be the same."

If these scenes overwhelm you and me, think what it would be like to be in their shoes.

Where can we go when disaster strikes in our world?

Nobody saw it coming. Catastrophes are like that.

This is the face of one woman in the aftermath of unimaginable horror, Japan's 9.0 earthquake and the devastating tsunami that quickly followed.

You and I have not lived what she experienced, but we know that face. We know those tears and those inner groans of, "Oh, please, not that!"

Our world can shake and crumble around us without an earthquake. We can be swamped and drowning without a tsunami.

All it takes is being given that diagnosis we never wanted to hear. Or a day when we wave goodbye to our husband or wife who never makes it home from work. A sports accident that turns our healthy, strong son or daughter into a paraplegic. The young adult child with so much potential who chooses a path we know will lead to unhappiness. The rumored pink slip that awaits us when we thought our job was safe. Home values that plummet and investments that tank when we thought we had saved up some money for the future.

Each of us has our own list. We watch, we cry, we pray. We scream, "Why?" into our long, sleepless nights. And we feel utterly helpless.

That's when we wear the same face as the woman in this photo, the face of fear and dread and hopelessness. She cannot escape her reality and neither can we.

But we can find refuge. Listen to the wonderful words of Psalm 46:1-3 and verse 7, followed by Isaiah 41:10:

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way

and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging . . .

The LORD Almighty is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress . . .

So do not fear, for I am with you;

do not be dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you;

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

The hard truth of life is that we have no truly safe place here on this earth. No guarantees of a perfect life in this imperfect world.

No place to run except into the sheltering arms of God, who so loved the world that he sent his only Son to earth to die on a cross and live again. For you. For me.

In His strength we weather our storms and go on, leaning on the everlasting arms.

His peace,

Lenore