When It Pours ...

When I first moved to Phoenix, AZ everyone there would go on and on about what they call "monsoon season." Being a born and raised midwestern girl and knowing a thing or two about storms, I had no choice but to take their word for it and wait for the dreaded monsoon season to hungrily swallow up the Valley of the Sun. But, when I was finally able to witness one of these dreaded monsoons, I ended up turning to those people and laughing!

"THIS is a monsoon?" I giggled. "You haven't seen a real storm until you've lived in the Midwest."

In fact, the only things that were impressive about a rainstorm in Phoenix, AZ were the dust storms that preceded a rainstorm and the fact that it rained there at all. And, I have to admit that I would stand outside and watch dust storms approach whenever I had the chance. Imagine a huge reddish brown cloud of desert soil and small rocks that seems to rise all the way up to the sky literally rolling toward you at several miles per hour. Believe it or not, I found it beautiful ... this, after all, is not something you see before a storm in the midwest.

No, other than the dust storms, rainstorms in Phoenix did not impress me at all and everyone there thought I was crazy. I had to remind them that I am, after all, from a city on the outskirts of Tornado Alley. I'm from an area where tornado sirens are as necessary as smoke detectors! Gimme a break, lol!Now, I'm back home in the Midwest and today its raining outside. I smiled as I listened to the rain beating against the window panes. The outside was really raging and I smiled as I remembered monsoon season in Phoenix. *sigh*What I wouldn't give to trade a "midwestern tornado weather" for a "Valley of the Sun Monsoon Season" when it comes to the storms of life. Now, I know that there are others experiencing far worse than I am right now. I also know that God will not put more on you than your shoulders can bear. Now, I'm flattered that the Lord thinks so highly of my strength and I will not complain about that fact (at least I'm trying not to) but whew ... Jesus, can I get a break, huh?

Everything seems to be going wrong ya'll. Have you ever had one of those domino effect experiences where one thing went wrong and it effected something else and that went wrong and it effected something and THAT went wrong and so on and so forth? Or how about this ... have you ever had an experience where you could fix what went wrong but all of a sudden the resources you needed to fix the situation suddenly dried up and disappeared? Okay ... well magnify that by ten ... maybe twenty and you have what I'm going through.

On the one hand, I would like to break down and have a good cry about it. But, on the other, I just can't do that. Its like something on the inside is telling me, "Eb, its not that serious. Keep it movin' ..." And when I tell you it really is that serious ...I need a miracle because right now, my situation is completely impossible. No really ... its impossible, no exaggeration. Yet, everything within me knows that its going to be alright and I can't, I just cannot panic. Its not a foreign feeling ... but still ... I just have no idea how I'm going to get out of this.

But, God is real. He is so real. And He specializes in impossible situations. So, I'm choosing to trust in Him inspite of what I see around me. I'm choosing to trust in Him inspite of what my family and friends think. They aren't supportive as I'd like them to be when it comes to my faith but I'm not living for God for them so in essence I guess I shouldn't really care, huh?

In a nutshell, the rain is pouring in my life right now. And its not a monsoon ... its a full blown midwestern, you're-probably-going-to-wake-up-in-the-land-of-Oz type storm. And, I am choosing to stand in the eye of that storm, shake my fist at it and remind it that even though its a big one ... my GOD is bigger.

Can I get a witness????