All of the Glory Belongs to My God (Part 4)

     

Good morning! Well, tomorrow will be the close of this series of blogs on, "A Shelter in the Time of Storm." I hope that it has been beneficial to you. Let's get back to being in the midst of the storm and how to handle it, shall we? 

     We stopped with me having a pity party because of my storm. Let me stop right now and make you aware of this. Whatever your storm may be, whether it is health issues, finance, children, spouse, job, etc. you must be aware of the fact that, as the Lord’s child, you send (are sending) a message to babes in Christ, children, other Christians who may not be as strong as you are spiritually, and to the world in general. The message that you send (are sending) either speaks for or against the Lord. If you hold your head up when in the midst of a stormy time in your life and display the attitude of, “I know the Lord will make a way,” then you are showing children, babes in Christ, other Christians who may not have reached your level of spiritual maturity, and the world in general, your strong faith in God. If, however, you fall to pieces and refuse to get yourself back together, but keep having your pity party and singing your “woe is me” song, you are speaking in a negative manner about the Lord. You are, in essence, saying that it does not pay to serve the Lord. I know that you probably never thought about it like that, did you? I know, but that is the case, none-the-less. You don’t believe me? Well, listen to what happened to me in my fire storm.

     Before I tell you about what happened to me during my house fire, I want to lay some ground work first. Some storms are minor or of short duration like the morning glory and cockleburs mentioned in number 2 on our graphic. These are situations, though they are tough for us, they can be dealt with much easier than the storm that is of the Johnson grass type. The Johnson grass type (supercell) is what I would label my house fire as.

    As we go back to the analogy of chopping a row in the cotton field, let’s say that the morning glory and cockleburr have been handled with mastery on the row. Then you hit a patch of Johnson grass. That weed will take a lot out of you just like a supercell of a storm in your life will. (still working on the rest...will post in a few more minutes)
     In the midst of my fire storm, my pragmatic brain was trying to figure a way out financially to get clothing, shelter, and food for my family. Remember, there was no insurance money coming, and there were no beds for my babies to lay their heads and there was no cupboard for my babies to go to get a snack and no refrigerator for them to get a juice from while they waited for me to get dinner prepared because there was no stove to prepare it on, and no house to prepare it in. In fact, there was a great big gaping hole where my monumental faith had been.

     People kept coming up to me and saying that there had been no loss of life and that these material things could be replaced. I tried to do the right thing and thank them for saying that. But as reality began to set in, so did bitterness. My house had burned down less than the hours ago, and they were talking to me about things being replaced. I remember thinking my heart, “If another person comes up to me and says that these things can be replaced, I am going to blast them but good.” Sure enough, one of the aides from my school who had driven out to the fire with me chimed out those words. I unleashed a fury of words on her. I said to her, “How? You just tell me how! You are going home tonight with your house intact, and your children will be snuggling safe and secure in their beds. Me? I don’t even have a broom straw for my babies! A broom straw!” Then I started squalling again.

     Yes, folks, I was a basket case during the first few hours after the fire. I am thankful that the lady that I unleashed my fury upon was a Christian and a strong one at that. She never said a word to me in response. After the fire had died down to smoke and a few hotspots, we got back in my car and left. The lady that I had just blasted was driving my car. We had to go back to school. But, on the way back, she stopped at her house and said that she needed to run inside for a second. Me, I was in limbo, just wondering what was going to happen one second and the next not being able to really come to grips with the fact that my house, not somebody else’s, but my house, faithful Alma’s house had just been destroyed by fire.

     Now, in the midst of my practical brain trying to figure out how to put things back in order in my life again, the recurring thought of where were we going to get the money to replace all of the things that we had lost. I had cried over the baby pictures and knew that I would again, but now was the time to face the most pressing needs. And that was to find a house for my babies to have a place to call their room. I needed to find shelter so that I could reassure them. I never will forget the haunting words that my daughter mumbled to me, “Momma, my butterbear burned up,” and she lay her head in my lap. The thought entered my head that she slept with that bear every night and that tore another piece of my heart out.  (We did, during the week,  set out to find another butterbear. This was a type of stuffed animal put out by Wuzzle. This particular one was a cuddly bear with butterfly wings on its back, hence the name butterbear. Well, what we found was that that stuffed animal was no longer being manufactured. Then we looked online and found some, but they were used. Here was another one of my wishes being tossed aside, the one that said, “New stuffed animals for my babies – no getting someone else’s germs for my children.” The fire had put those niceties to bed.)

     Well, when the aide who had to run into her house for a few minutes came out, my mouth fell open. She had armloads of clothing for my son! She went back in and came out with several pairs of shoes, sweaters, and what-have-you. She had just outfitted my son for the rest of the school term and for the summer. I remember thinking that the Lord was providing for me because He knew that I could hardly formulate a thought without tears welling up in my eyes. When I looked at the aide, I apologized for speaking to her like I had, to which she replied, “Don’t worry about it. I understand. You are holding up a lot better than I would have. In fact, I would have thought something was wrong with you if you had not responded as you did, especially about the baby pictures. I cried some more, but not for long because I had a warm glow on the inside because I knew that my Father was opening hearts and doors for me. I had just received what, years later, I would call a care package from the Lord, and it was tailor made with my name on it, so-to-speak.  That put a smile on my face, and I was wearing that smile the next day at school.
     That smile became the topic of conversation among my fellow teachers. About two days later, a teacher came up to me and told me that the faculty had been talking about me in that I could have a smile on my face in the midst of the loss of my home. She told me that she and the rest of the faculty thought that was admirable. She then went on to tell me that she admired me and just wanted to tell me so. She said, "Alma, to have a faith like that... I wish I had a faith that strong." 
     I thanked her kindly and stepped on away from her, but in my mind, I was livid. How dare she scrutinize my face and look for signs of weakness. I had just suffered the loss of everything that I owned! Leave me to grieve that loss in peace! I was angry with her and the rest of the faculty for a minute or so. Then I just accepted it as people being people and having to have something to talk about. We will finish this session of tomorrow in the finale. Until then, be blessed!

Doing What I Can, While I Can Because I Care,
Alma L. Stepping On Jones

I will be sure to begin with the cotton field portion of the graphic above on tomorrow.

This one was a long one to post

However, I wanted to give you the utmost

In what I said in thirty minutes or less

But this one has wearied even me, I must confess

Still, I would do it again for you, if need be

Since I want to always present you my best.