Tag Archives: faith in adversity

Storm Warnings

Last week I had a big “Oops!” moment.

Our long, balmy fall was deceptive. It was a lingering Indian summer with no end in sight, and the flies weren’t even trying to get inside!

Although we had a general forecast of snow last Thursday, I was caught off guard, thinking it would be mostly rain and a lighter storm.  WRONG – we got 8+ inches of heavy snow in less than 36 hours with plunging temperatures down into the single digits! Result: Terrible road conditions, over 200 slide-offs and crashes. Plus I was stuck inside from Wednesday until Saturday afternoon, eating food from my freezer and pantry, not wanting to risk injury to myself, others, or my paid-for car. Now we have news of the horrendous amounts of snow near the Great Lakes (over 6′ in two days in many places) with a total ban on travel.

Winter on West 21st Street, New York Courtesy Beyond My Ken, Wikipedia Commons

Winter on West 21st Street, New York
Courtesy Beyond My Ken, Wikipedia Commons

So what was the problem? I had blithely put off my regular grocery shopping so I was caught without my usual supply of fresh produce and dairy. Even though eating from my well-stocked freezer and pantry was a far cry from starvation, I still felt foolish and deprived. I could easily have gone out on Wednesday and enjoyed fresh broccoli, salad, pears, and yogurt instead of freeze-dried green beans, dehydrated apples, and cocoa from powdered milk (ugh).

The stress I felt was much more symbolic than real, and I sensed a deeper principle at work. How ready am I for the bigger storms of life? I thought about a friend who’d endured a power failure for two weeks one winter while her husband was in school and she had three little children at home. Their fireplace and food storage really helped, but boredom, close quarters, and stress took their toll.

Their emergency came without warning. But many do provide a window to prepare. Are we heeding the examples of Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy that were so devastating? We are warned that the Ebola virus may come here and we might well need to self-quarantine. Any disruption in our food distribution system would clear grocery store shelves within days. We could experience weeks or months of “hyperinflation” that would send prices skyrocketing. So if we’re warned, we have less excuse for not preparing. While we can’t foresee every emergency nor will there always be a warning, we can do a lot to soften the impact of those that do come. Believe me, I was saying all this to myself and more.

If you want more information on preparing for emergencies, check out these sites and ideas:

  • LDS Provident Living
  • FEMA
  • Take a checkbook to Costco or WINCO and stock up –  and don’t forget water.
  • If you’re more ambitious, learn to can and dehydrate your favorite foods.

Finally, the skies cleared, the sun came out and I dared venture out on the melting ice and snow. I cautiously toodled off to Fred Meyer and stocked up, so grateful for the abundance of nature and our clean, spacious stores. Driving home a favorite hymn came on the radio that totally mirrored my mood and renewed my faith:

This Is My Father’s World
(YouTube/user/The Hymns of Praise)

My final takeaway: Tackle the tendency to worry and act from fear. God provides peace and guidance:

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear;
but of 
power, and of love, and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy1:7)

The more I think about being prepared, the more I realized that acquiring the habit of prayer and then heeding the subtle answers that come is perhaps the very best item in our spiritual backpack.

Safety in a Dangerous World

The horrifying news of journalist James Foley’s execution in the Middle East this week made me think how quickly life can turn on a dime and how unfair it often seems. How do we live life with this sword hanging over us?

I’ve suffered fear for my safety many times, but repeatedly God has assured me that I have a mantle of protection around me.  Here are two times I remember clearly:

This spring, I was driving east on State St. going to the Post Office when a car approaching me turned left, coming right at side of the car.  I quickly swerved, hit the horn, and as I did so, something odd happened.  I “saw” what looked like a powerful energy field flowing between the two cars, only 1-2″ wide. As the other car pushed on into this field, it couldn’t penetrate it, and even appeared to move my car to the right!  I honestly don’t know how we avoided colliding, it was that close a call.  Lesson to me: God has His own form of protection when something isn’t His will for us to experience.

Many years ago, I was newly divorced, facing life as a single working mother.  I felt vulnerable and fearful of physical danger.  I remember taking my kids for walks on a bridge across a large river with a low damn just slightly upstream. We’d stop and admire the great mass of water flowing over that dam and under our feet – its power was truly thrilling.  My spirituality was just starting to emerge, mostly just as meditation (see Aligned With Grace), so I didn’t have much faith in God.

Even so, He had a message for me. One night I was driving home quite late, sober but very tired, and eager to pick up my children. After about 45 minutes of driving at 60 mph, I could no longer keep my eyes open. The next thing I knew I heard my tires hit the gravel on the shoulder. I woke up to see a high rock cliff face coming straight at my right headlight. I remembered hearing myself scream as we hit the wall and the car spun back around on the empty country highway. I was spinning in a perfect circle and hit that wall at least one or two more times. As I spun – securely belted in and held in place by centrifugal force – I watched in fascination as my left wrist snapped upward causing a mild sprain and my left knee flying up and hitting the bottom of the steering wheel, leaving a small bruise.  I came to rest on the shoulder facing back the way I came, and walked away with only those two injuries. An older couple stopped soon after and gave me a ride home. The car was totaled but I knew that God’s power had protected me, and it was far greater than anything I’d observed in that waterfall! My faith and curiosity about God grew substantially.

Waterfall Courtesy PublicDomainFiles.com Image 13483688429330

Courtesy PublicDomainFiles.com 

So why did God protect me and not James Foley? Well, I’m certainly not a better nor more deserving person.  I think the answer may lie in a statement by one of my church leaders (paraphrased from memory):  The reason we have a hard time understanding this life is that we’re living in “Act 2.”  Act 1 was the life before this when our spirits were preparing for mortality. Our mortal life is Act 2. And Act 3 will be the life to come when all things will be made right, and we’ll know why our lives unfolded as they did.

Scriptures teach us that part of our purpose in mortality is to be tested and tried, to see what choices we’ll make in adversity as well as in prosperity. Job in the Old Testament is the classic example. When God pointed to Job as a highly righteous man, Satan responded: Sure, look how you’ve blessed him with a large family and great wealth. Why would he sin? God said, Okay, you may try him in any way, but you may not take his life. Job lost his family, his wealth, his health, and ultimately his friends.  His response:  The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. (Job 1:21)  Job never lost faith in the goodness of God. When the test was over, . . .the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning . . . (Job 42:12), giving him a second large family and even greater wealth, plus the hope of having his first family back in the eternities.

I expect James Foley will have glory and blessings heaped upon his head for his sacrifice. And I hope we all will notice the times God protects us and give thanks, even in adversity.

And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious;
and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more.
(LDS Doctrine and Covenants 78:19)