Wednesday, September 3, 2008

A Direct Hit - to my heart

I am going to start out by thanking the Lord that Hurricane Gustav didn't directly hit Cameron Parish and that nothing was amiss when we returned to Lake Charles on Tuesday... I am then going to ask for prayer for the families that were affected by the storm in other parishes.
I'm torn as to how to pray for the next storm that will head our way because I know that it will happen... And as far as the activity in the ocean right now, it could be as early as next week. I just hope that because this hurricane wasn't as severe as they expected, that people won't plan to ride the next one out...
We all know how destructive nature can be and the fact that we have more storms now than when we were growing up, is a true sign that the Word of God is real... It does speak of increased famine and earthquakes toward the end times in Matthew 24. I don't know exactly if the Bible mentions Hurricanes, but it ranks right up there with Earthquakes in my book.
I do know that God is in control of the waters and the wind and the heavens and the earth. I will leave it to His discretion to send a Hurricane where ever He feels it needs to go.
I imagine that if we find ourselves at an inconvenience with as little as no electricity or with as much as the loss of our home... it is only because God wants to get our attention. Have you sought after God today? Or are you like many, that it takes a natural disaster for God to get your attention!
Are you feeling a little like a lost soul?
He is anxiously waiting to have a conversation with you.
Have you opened the Word of God today?
God wants you to walk with Him and talk with Him and have the kind of relationship with Him where He shares Himself with you and tells you things you didn't know before and wouldn't know unless He revealed them to you. When you get close enough and quiet enough, He will whisper a secret to your heart and it will change your life. Has this happened to you? Share with me on this blog a way that God has whispered to you a secret...
Do you want to know mine?
It's happened many times, but I'll tell you about this one time over 8 years ago...
We had pretty much lost everything we had when the racetrack went south... Our home, our business, our vehicle, our lifestyle... Everything... We had to practically start over and I was devastated... Then one night I opened the Word of God and I read Isaiah 43:18-19...
"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I instantly felt secure that God was in control of the situation. I didn't have to dwell on the past mistakes. I did however, have to take responsibility for them and acknowledge that I tried on my own to make it a success. I needed to look ahead to what God had planned next in my life...
Then, as Paul Harvey would say... And now... the Rest of the Story...
I got this great job at KPLC and my life was turned on a different track... I've never looked back... Only look forward to what God has for me in the future.. Knowing that I put my faith and trust in HIM for every minute I'm given on this earth... He is in control.

I challenge you to find a scripture that speaks to your situation today. God is the Great I AM! He is everything to us... so what do you need Him to be to you today?
I hope that first and foremost He is your savior...
Then He can be your friend...
Or whatever you need Him to be.

I thank you, Lord, that you spared Lake Charles from the hurricane this time. I pray that you will spare us in the future hurricanes, but I know that you are in control. I wouldn't want it any other way.
Talk to the Lord today and ask HIM to talk to you. I love you!!!
Lea Anne

2 comments:

Lori said...

When I was younger...maybe in middle school I LOVED the first part of Isaiah chapter 6. I loved that Isaiah SAW God. And I wanted that. To be so close to Him that I could SEE Him. I loved that upon seeing God Isaiah understood holiness in a way that led him to knowledge of his own imperfection. I loved that God clensed and forgave Him and then called him. I clung to these verses often, wishing and praying that I would see God. Usually as I read, I would end in verse 8 where Isaiah says "Here I am, send me." And I would pray that I would have a heart willing to go. Then, one day, when I was in highschool, I kept reading in that same chapter and in verse 11 Isaiah asks God, "For how long, O Lord?" And he answered "until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant..." It was in reading those words that I knew I would be a missionary...I had no idea then where I would end up; at that point I don't think I'd even heard of Ukriane. But I think about that night and I smile remembering that God is in control. :o)

Lea Anne McCrory Wood said...

Thanks for sharing Lori...
Keep them coming everyone...