Recently we have experienced something I call “big weather.” Living in southern California my entire childhood, big weather was when the Santa Ana winds blew through, or when the rain fell whenever the Orange Show was going (it’s an old Native American myth in our area). It wasn’t until Nathan and I moved to Virginia that I witnessed true “big weather.” The type when the billowing clouds race in, and the sky is a cacophony of thunder as lightning shatters the night. It is both something to fear and beautiful all at the same time.
Big Weather
In this last month, for the first time in a long time, we experienced big weather in Redlands. In the middle of the night the sky was bright with cracks of lightning, the thunder so loud the house shook. There was one flash and boom so bright it felt and looked like it was just few houses away. In the morning we found that a palm tree was struck a few blocks over. It had gone up in flames. The tree is on our normal route to school in the morning so the next day the kids and I saw the charred pole, the top of the palm tree was completely gone leaving only a burnt trunk.
Each morning the kids looked for the burnt tree, wondering why the owners chose to leave it and not cut it down. It was dead, struck by lightning and burned to a crisp! Then, today on our way to school my son began yelling for me to stop the car. Out of the top of this dead tree, new, bright green fronds were growing. What was deemed useless by me, was showing new life.
New Life
What I hadn’t seen for the past three weeks was what was going on inside the tree. The stump was soaking up the rain the Lord has given to us, saving its energy to create new life. It got me thinking…if God cares this much about a tree, how much more does he care for us. He will grow us too, put us back together after big weather leaves us feeling and perhaps looking destroyed.
How many of us have experienced or are experiencing “big weather” in our lives? Surely no one is immune, and it doesn’t look the same for everyone. When I experience thunder and rain in my life, I typically can handle it well. Thunder being lots of busyness, lots of noise. The rain to me is the tough stuff that we know will produces a tangible strength. The lightning strikes are what I like to think of as catastrophic devastation. Devastation that leaves us feeling burned up, like a bomb went off in our lives, and we are falling apart. But if there is comfort to be found, it’s found in Christ. He will grow us again through this experience. It will not be easy, and most growing and stretching hurts.
Growing Hurts
The bible tells us to rejoice in our trials. Every time I hear someone recite James 1:2-4 I get irritated, because while going through a difficult time, no one wants to hear, “Be joyful”! I want someone to commiserate with me! The verses say:
“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So, let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete needing nothing.”
I know often what I want, isn’t what is good for me. I want life to be easy and peaceful. But if I had my way, I’d never grow into what the Lord wants me to be. In order to grow, there needs to be a reason for change. Unfortunately, often times that reason comes in the form of “big weather.”
At my church I listened to a pastor preach on this topic. I left feeling extremely comforted. He said that in the midst of circumstances, regardless of what they are, that God is bringing about his purposes in the situation. That in these circumstances, God is preparing you for what He has prepared for you. We can rest assured that God is moving in our circumstance in life, and he is sovereignly in control! Romans 8:28 says,
“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of the those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”
When it looked like the world was falling apart, it was actually falling into place for God to work in great ways. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers and rose to save Egypt and the nation of Israel from famine. Jesus gave himself to be killed on a cross to pay to price for us to be redeemed with God. I mean WOW…what a perspective change for me. When I look at this palm tree, charred and ugly, I see the redemptive spirit of God. I feel comfort that in the midst of all the things going on in life, God is with me, preparing me for what He has for me in the future!