When we battle the storm...

Debris from the homes of people near Dickinson, Texas line the streets. Every where you turn there are remnants of what the storm has left behind.

---

He said, "Listen, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem! Listen, King Jehoshaphat! This is what the LORD says: Do not be afraid! Don't be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God's.
~ 2 Chronicles 20:15
​

"The battle is mine, says the Lord," is a statement that many of us have heard at least once in our life.  Yesterday as I visited with staff and patients following Hurricane Harvey, I heard someone share that she felt that this was a battle, and that she was "giving it all to Jesus."

I hadn't necessarily thought of Harvey as a battle, but we all have experienced storms in our life.

While I want to understand that the battle is the Lord's, I still acknowledge, and think that the Lord does as well, that we must still have the encounter.  Battle scars and and battle fatigue are two things that we all know something about.

As I look around the community I see many scars.  Some will heal, some will not, and some, well, let's just say they will fade with time.

People are tired.  Most of us have had times when we have been both emotionally and physically drained, and times when our spirit might lose hope.

I reminded our staff this morning in a note that even Jesus understood that he needed time to "go off and pray."

While the battle does belong to the Lord, we are the instruments by which it happens.  Praying we may all find strength in the midst of the storm.

Stay in God's grip!

​G. Todd Williams (c) 2017

---

Dear Lord, when my hands grow so tired that I cannot lift them in praise to You, hold them.  When the rains have washed over my face so many times, that my tears cannot be seen, dry them.  When I simply don't know what else to do, help me to surrender further to Your will.  Amen.

---