Hurricane Ike - 5 of 5 - Lessons Learned...

You know at one point, I felt a sense of panic. When I left my Mom's to head back to Houston, I was told that there was no gas to be found anywhere because there was no power to pump the gas. I was also told that no grocery stores were open. As we headed back home, I was scared that I couldn't feed my kids and what would I do when I ran out of gas? I immediately started to pray and felt an overwhelming sense of God's peace and He reminded me of Philippians 4:19 - ..."And my God shall supply all of your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus." It wasn't long before we saw a grocery store open in Conroe and we were able to stand in line and wait our turn to go in and get a bunch of things. Each day brought a new list of stores and gas stations open with generators. God did supply all of our needs and always had! It was going to be ok! God did not cause the storm, but allowed the storm. Was it uncomfortable? Of course. Unbearable? No. I can look back over this experience and if the worst thing I can say was that I didn't have power for almost 10 days.............BIG DEAL! I got to spend more time with my kids and we played games and laughed a lot and acted silly and didn't get on each other's nerves that much. It wasn't so bad!

I went to church Saturday night and the music and message was so very encouraging and appropriate and applicable. Two of the songs that we sang were, 'I will praise you in this storm' and 'You never let go'. I know that no matter what I go through in life that God's going to take care of me and always wants the best for me! The key verse for the message was:

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart".......Jeremiah 29:11-13