PEACE IN THE STORM
Tranquilidad Durante la Tempestad
By Mary Hunt Webb
Posted Friday, June 29, 2018
Even in the United States, there are people that live without electricity. [Photographer: Peter Tompkins. Photo courtesy of Stockvault.net.]
When my husband and I visited the Navajo Reservation in southern Utah, our tour guide told us she needed to buy some ice for her ice chest so that she could take home milk for her daughter because her home did not have electricity. She said the power company required five houses to be signed up for electricity in her area before they would extend a power line to her home, but that she didn't have any neighbors close enough to qualify for the power connection.
I could hardly believe it. "You live without electricity? How do you manage?"
"We manage well," she assured me. "I charge my cell phone here at work so that my daughter's school can reach me during the day."
I thought back to the times when my family had been without electricity as a result of power outages. When I was a young girl, we lit candles. Sometimes, my mother, my older sister and I played board games during such times. At other times, Mother sewed on her treadle sewing machine or baked something on our gas stove.
During storms, my sister was able to practice hymns on our acoustic piano because she played the piano for services at our church. [Photographer: Christina Curtis. Photo courtesy of Stockvault.net.]
Sometimes my sister practiced hymns for church on our acoustic piano while a storm raged. She knew the hymns so well that she could practice without looking at the music if there wasn't enough light. Because central Oklahoma is the national center of tornadic activity, it's a good thing that Mother taught us to remain calm and not be afraid during electrical storms.
After I grew up and married a meteorologist, I was often alone during storms because my husband was usually at work forecasting the weather. I remember the time that hail fell in such quantity that it piled up in drifts, like snow. My husband was at work while I was at home with our infant son, but the noise of hail falling on our roof and all around didn't alarm me. Mother had taught my sister and me that Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." (John 14:27, NIV) That's why I wasn't scared or upset.
There have been many more storms through the years, both physical ones from the weather and emotional ones, but the Lord has been our calm assurance that all is well. Because He is with us, we do not have to be afraid.
BiBLE VERSE FOR THiS POSTiNG
John 14:27 — Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (New International Version)
Juan 14:27 — La paz os dejo, mi paz os doy; yo no os la doy como el mundo la da. No se turbe vuestro corazón, ni tenga miedo. (Reina-Valera 1960)
God provides peace in the midst of a storm. [Photographer: Heather Elaine Kitchen. Photo courtesy of Stockvault.net.]
