Sunday, August 30, 2015

Taking Deeper Roots

It always seems like every nature-event can be tied to the spiritual realm in some way or another. Here in the Pacific Northwest, we had a major windstorm yesterday which caused power outages all over the area due to trees down, power lines snapped in half and debris all over the place. We have had a very dry summer that has resulted in wild fires across our entire state. We typically get windstorms like we did yesterday in the late fall but the trees don’t usually come down in the numbers they did yesterday.

You see, because of the dry ground, the root systems were weak so when the winds came, the trees snapped right out of the ground, root system and all. Everywhere I drive today I see trees ripped out of the ground, still attached to their roots. It reminded me of how easy it is for me to “snap”, “come undone” or “fall apart” when my roots in Christ are weak. 

It is in the storm that our faith grows stronger and we “take deeper roots”. I really had no faith in God (in fact, I wondered if there was even a God at all for many years) when my big storm blew into my life. It took me getting to the darkest part of my life, having the “power go out” on my life, to realize that my source of light and power and HOPE was in God. It was in the storm that I learned that to have FAITH meant I would have to believe in something I couldn’t see. I had to believe that God has a plan for my life and that if I can just hang on and connect more and more to Him during my storm, I would make it out better than I ever was before. 

I didn’t need God, faith, when things were going along “okay” in my life. I had it handled. But when it all started falling apart and when I really couldn’t see the light of day anymore, I chose to put all of my faith in God. I decided that believing and having joy in my life and hope that better days are ahead was far better than not believing and feeling hopeless and helpless, not wanting to keep living. Yes, you read that correctly. 


It was in the midst of my storm that I learned to root myself and everything that I am in Jesus, in my faith. I almost snapped. I was almost that tree that got ripped out of the ground by my roots. I guess, in a way, I really did. But not anymore. When the winds blow fiercely in my life, I know that the only way I am going to get through is to get really close to God and let him have control of my situation. 

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