ice storm

 

We went to see our middle son graduate from boot-camp and found ourselves in the middle of one of Oklahoma's worst ice storms. We arrived early Thursday Morning, got our precious 4 hours of sleep before we went to to see our son on his base for family day. It was cold already so when the rain began to fall it felt like syrup. Freezing rain soon coated all of Lawton and every tree, power line and road was encased or covered in ice. By Friday they canceled the graduation ceremony and closed the base to all visitor.

I sat in our hotel room in near tears. We came all this way to see our sons major accomplishment and now we can't see him nor does he get a ceremony to celebrate his achievement. With nothing better to do, we decided to check out Lawton, Oklahoma. We went to find a Starbucks. There was one and it was closed due to the ice storm. Much of the city was without power. We were one of the fortunate people to still have power in our motel. Many people were freezing in there homes. Wal-mart seemed to be the place to go for it was stuffed to the rafters with people getting supplies. This is not where I want to be today.

We heard of a famous place to get a hamburger so I googled it and we followed the directions out in the middle of no mans land. "What is a burger joint doing out here?" I thought. As we drove for miles all we saw was frozen land, swagging power lines and broken trees rolling forever across the land. I half way thought to see a frozen little tumble weed come clinking across the road. As we drew closer to our little red dot on our GPS we could see that someone played a cruel joke on us with the directions. For there was not Cafe. We were in the middle of a unwelcoming, barren land and I couldn't see my son, there was no hamburgers joint and no coffee. I was feeling quite sorry for myself.

I kept praying "Jesus please give us a gift to day, I really want to see my son, Please Jesus, just one little gift. Open the base, Lord, Open doors no man can shut" I prayed this through out our drive.
Rather than turn around we followed the map to the next road thinking it would take us back around. Another cruel GPS joke, for the road was closed. You would think we would learn with all the horror stories but not us. Turning around we had to drive out the way we came in. As we were driving this icy, empty wonderland we slowed down to see a little old lady outside with a hammer pounding at her mail box to open it up to get her mail. Well, we had a good laugh and I said, "She knows the mail will come its a promise from our postal service. And she is chipping away the frozen seal that is keeping her from it." Revelation moment!!!

Psalms 84:11 For the LORD God is a sun and a shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless

I had been experiencing quite and ice storm in my own life, feeling like my mail box had been sealed and I couldn't get to the messages God had been sending to me.My devotions felt forced. My spirit was dry and I was weary from feeling empty. I needed to be like the little old lady taking a hammer to my mailbox with a full knowledge that my promises had been delivered and I just need to get to them. I didn't start jumping up and down in any incantations, it was more of this quiet awe ha moment. I realized I had accepted the ice over my mailbox. In many things. Waiting on God is a good attitude but taking blows from the enemy while we are waiting is crazy. I was accepting the ice seals, I was letting the enemy bully me in areas with an attitude passiveness. Gross! How did that happen?! Slowly, with one trouble at a time until I was dry and drained of all fight.

Frozen Oklahoma, having an ice seal between me and my son and a little old lady with a hammer reminded me once again of His truth. Trusting God doesn't mean I have to keep being a punching bag for the enemy. For the LORD God is a sun and a shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.

Through out the rest of my day all I kept thinking about was all the promises in my mail box, and seeing my son was one of them. I started praying for God to melt the ice, break it, remove the barriers. The Base never did open back up on Friday and as it stood, Ryley was to leave for Kentucky early Saturday morning and that would be it. The Lord is my SUN He was not going to withhold any good thing I was certain of it. We went back to our motel without coffee or lunch, but a new perspective. As we were settling into our motel room Ryley calls. " Hi mom, our flights have been canceled. I have a full day pass for 11 hours tomorrow."

The next day we picked him up and took him to Starbucks. It was open. Our God withhold no good things.:-) In fact Because of the ice storm we got to spend Sunday with him too before our flight left, which happened to be on schedule. Again, He withholds No Good thing!!!!

Oh, and we did find a great place to eat... The Cracker barrel.