Peace...

As I have already mentioned, we recently survived our first typhoon of the season....Praise the Lord for that. We knew the weather was getting worse Tuesday evening, but were unsure if we were just going to have severe rains, etc. Wednesday morning, we found out that the kids would not have class...because of the continuous rains...still no real danger from typhoons at that time. By mid-afternoon Wednesday, we were experiencing the full effects of Typhoon Dodong. The kids were still in the "oh no, are we going to get sucked away" stage...I guess that shows where we came from! And I believe that Jonah heard more than once that things were going to be ok because we found him talking to the dogs saying, "It's ok Star, it's ok Tex, it's only a typhoon"!

There is no good way to explain exactly what a typhoon looks like...I had heard that I would see rain unlike any other rain I have seen in my life...I think that's a pretty accurate description! The rain and winds would whip around the house and change directions at any given time, and the rain was more horizontal than vertical...the weirdest thing, to confirm, I've ever seen!

Wednesday night the news told us that the schools would be closed in the entire Zambales Province so, we settled in for a good ol' family movie night. Just as the popcorn was finished popping...Power out! Once we got the candles lit and everyone settled down, I took a quick picture of our "brown-out companions":

The power did recover and we did get to finish our movie together, but the night brought on many more storms and sleep came when it could between scared kiddos and howling winds. As I went to bed that night, I thought to myself, "are we really going to be ok"? You know, we put on a good strong face for our kids because we don't want them to be frightened, but deep inside I wondered if it was ok for us to be in bed resting and not sitting in the closet finding shelter from the storm (again, a sign of our former tornado days!). As I lay there, it's like God spoke over me to see the experience of the Filipino people around me...they've lived through this their entire lives...and they are sleeping peacefully, they were not panicked, they were not tucked into their closets...no, they were getting the rest they needed to, in fact, drive to work the next morning! The Lord continued to reveal these things to me in order to bring me the peace and rest I needed; He reminded me that it's like being with Him in the midst of the storms of life...I know that I can rest because I know that He has been there before me. He is not panicked...He does not run and hide, rather, He comforts us with His calming presence and, therefore, we rest. It is the "peace that passeth all understanding", indeed!

The kids have continued to have cancelled classes for the rest of this week and we have seen many storms pass through since Tuesday, but the worst is past us and we look forward to a nice weekend. As a matter of fact, today it rained less than it has all week! We have taken note that the next typhoon is not far away...maybe 4 days until it will hit, but I think we're gonna be just fine! For now, I am most grateful that we have been able to see the first typhoon of the season come and go!!!! I am also grateful that my Father knows just how to speak to my troubled heart!

"Lord you are amazing and wonderful...thank you for the way you minister to me when I seem to get a little uneasy of the 'raging storms' around me...You speak peace and all is still...God, You are amazing!"