Standing Firm as the Storm Rages

I want to talk about this tree…this very tree.

Right after the storm

Spring 2019

 It has stood the test of time. The test of this sometime cruel world. While it has weathered many storms in its life, it never expected what was going to hit it on April 29, 2017. It knew the storm was coming as the clouds began to darken and atmosphere around her began to change. The wind began to howl and the rain began to fall. It thought to itself here comes another storm. It quietly told its limbs to hunker down and its leaves to stick closely to the trunk. When the storm had passed and it looked around, most of its life’s work was gone. It had been ravaged by the tornado. ALL of its leaves were gone, most of its limbs were also and debris from the storm hung around its neck. But what remained was its core, firmly planted in its foundation.

You see its testimony is that while the storm raged around it and in those first moments, those first months, the first year it seemed it had lost everything. But its core remained. It existed. Its roots remained anchored in the soil. The following spring, a new chapter began. Its limbs began to lengthen and its leaves began to grow. This year is its second spring after the storm and its limbs are longer and filling out with new growth. While it is shaken from the storm, it will never be the same but it stayed anchored in its soil. It kept a solid trunk. It continued to take in nutrition and water and it began to grow.  After the storm it was bare for a while but that first spring it provided shade for our family and this year with its growth, we now have a shade tree again and protection from the harsh sun and from the next storm.  Is it scared, yes. Has it changed, yes. Will it ever look the same, probably not. But it is strong and beautiful. Just like its testimony.

Had it been anchored in sand instead of solid ground, it would have had a very different outcome.

What are your feet anchored in today? Are you firmly anchored God? Are you going to His word for your nutrition and water? Or are you anchored in sand? Do you need to replant your roots today?

John 6:35 Jesus declared, “I am the bread of Life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”