And the Peace of God....

Philippians 4:6-7

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present you requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

I said that verse at least 217 times to myself on Friday. It began to rain, very heavily, for a many hours on end. And the weather radar showed only more heavy rain headed straight for my area. To understand why this distressed me, you must realize that my house is only a few feet away from a small creek.

Well, it is only small when the weather is normal. When we get a lot of rain, all bets are off. By Friday night, I had white water rapids about 10 feet from where I sit and post all of these entries to my blog.

At several points during the evening, I seriously asked God what the difference was between being anxious and having a healthy dose of panic when confronted with a potentially dangerous situation. Because the only way I felt anything like the "peace that transcends all understanding" was when I remembered that everything in my home, all that I have, all my stuff, all my treasures--were just things. And they didn't really matter all that much. Even if my whole house was swept away by a flood, God would take care of me.

But I'll be honest, I was having a hard time reminding myself that all my "things" didn't really matter when my husband's car was about to be swamped by the river that had once been my driveway. Sigh. I just want all of you to know that I am not perfect. I am a normal person just like you. I am susceptible to the normal ups and downs of any relationship, including my relationship to God. That does not mean I am defeated in anything, it just means I have to work harder sometimes to get the desired result.

One of my worst nightmares is for someone to read this blog, or even just know me as a person, and credit my happiness and joy to having some kind of perfect life. Believe me, I don't. But I have grace, and I have Christ, and they are much better than a perfect life (or in this particular example, perfectly unruffled trust.)




This is normally my driveway. Don't miss those plastic buckets and tubs floating away. You can't get a sense of it from this picture, but the water was flowing very quickly through here. It was also just starting to rain heavily again, as you can see by the raindrops.

The back garage, which my husband uses as a woodworking shop, underwater. And that small vegetable garden you see on the left, with the plastic tarp behind it, is usually about a foot above the ground.

I know this picture is kind of dim, but this is my backyard, completely level with the creek that runs next to our house. Yes, that is whitewater you see in the middle of the picture, right between my camellias.




See my nice outdoor furniture cushions floating toward the back of this pond/backyard? And don't miss the garden hose floating through the center of the picture.



Before my husband came home and opened up this back gate, clearing away a bunch of debris, the hinge at the top was bent by the pressure of the water trying to push through.


Oh, we are all fine and dried out by the way. Thanks for asking! And despite the ominous predictions of the weather radar, it did stop raining before my actual house was flooded. Whew! Believe me, we were praying really hard.