Perhaps you are like me and you too felt your faith and mindset tested as you watched hurricane Milton take aim at the Florida peninsula this week. I have many friends and family on the west coast of Florida and it would have been so easy to sit with anxiety and worry as Milton strengthened to a category 5 storm and headed directly to where my loved ones live.
My plan for today’s email was to write about mindset—how our thoughts affect our words and actions and in turn our well-being. I had an entirely different newsletter written on the subject. How like God to inspire me to write about the very subject that would be tested—and then to direct me to write a new post to share my experience.
I was challenged to determine in my mind that I would not let concern and a burden to pray morph into worry and anxiety. I had to put 2 Corinthians 10:5 into practice as I took my thoughts captive to my knowledge of God’s sovereignty.
I had to remind myself that I truly believe the verse that tells me that God is at work on my behalf..
“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28
Wednesday, just hours before Milton made landfall, God reminded me of a phrase my son loves to use from the movie The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. It says, “Everything will be alright in the end so if it is not alright it is not the end.”
Put that into Romans 8:28 terms you might say::
We know God works ALL things together for our good. If you look around and things don’t seem good, then God is not done with His work.
Another phrase God brought to my mind is “You don’t know what you don’t know.”
If I believe that God is Lord of all, including the hurricane, then I must trust that He knows more than I do. I must humble myself and admit that I don’t know what I don’t know.
“‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9
This passage is my go-to scripture when I want to cry out “Why God?”
God doesn’t promise us that we will know His purposes when devastating things happen in our lives. He does promise to be with us always (Matthew 28:20). He also promises that He won’t leave us or forsake us (Joshua 1:5).
The TRUTH is God can be trusted. He does indeed work all things together for our good, even when we can’t see it, or even when we sense the enemy is at work.
As we move forward from the wrath of hurricane Milton, let us determine to be like Joseph when he told his brothers that God was at work for His (God’s) greater purpose even though they meant to wrong him.
“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.” Genesis 50:20
When we are faced with events that are out of our control—like hurricanes and tornadoes—let us all remember that God is at work for our good.
When we are faces with confounding circumstances, let us remind ourselves that God will use any circumstances for His greater purpose.
When we are confused by events that have taken and/or are taking place in our lives or in the lives of those we love, let us surrender our need to understand (and control) to the One whose thoughts are higher than our thoughts.
The bottom line, Dear Ones, is either we trust God or we don’t.
Trust is a choice.
I choose God.