In the Midst of the Storm

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I feel an urgency to get this offering of “In The Midst of the Storm” out especially to those of you within the path of the hurricane. And to those of you with loved ones in these areas, pass this on. I wrote the following story after God brought me through Hurricane Fran.

Light in the Dark

On Friday, September 6, 1996, at 3:00 A.M., I got a wake-up call that I will never forget! The ferocious winds accompanying Hurricane Fran sledgehammered my sweet dream. I awoke to a world void of light and no silvery moon. I was in the basement of a wood-framed house surrounded and held captive by flag-pole-tall bending and breaking pine trees—disoriented, scared, and alone. It was like living inside the color black.

Fear choked me as I crawled through the house in what I hoped was the direction of the bathroom. Death knocked at the windows and doors begging for entry. But I wasn’t answering. I bumped into every wall, felt each sharp corner of furniture, and shouted in an attempt to drown death’s call. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4, New King James Version). I shouted the same verses repeatedly with ouch’s mixed in like choruses. I knew that if I could get to the bathroom, which was in the center of the house, I would be safe.

As I crawled and listened to the hurricane that raged all around me, I realized that it could very well be my last night on earth. I felt the coolness of the ceramic tile under my hands and knees as I made it to the safety of the windowless bathroom. I felt the toilet seat, propped myself up, and grabbed the Bible and mini-battery-powered clip-on book light out of my magazine rack. I turned to Psalm 119 and read, “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

In the background, I heard the crackling and thump of snapping trees. Thunderously loud wind, crashing glass, and tree branches slashed all around the wood-frame house. Through my tears, I recited out loud, “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and light to my path. Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

Yet, still—I thought of death.

I wanted one moiré chance to tell my mother, father, and especially my son, Michael, “I love you.” No excuses. No long talks. I wanted them to know that I genuinely loved them—since forever—and until forever is no more. And then something happened.

Peace washed over me like the warm waters of a baptismal pool. It was like God wrapped His loving arms around me like a loving father comforts his child awakened by a nightmare. The wind seemed muffled. Time stopped. Whether I lived or died did not seem to matter. An incomparable light flooded my spirit. The tiny book light shone like a beacon illuminating the vast night sky that surrounds it, beckoning the troubled ships to shore.

I whispered a prayer, “Even if I did, I know that you are with me. If I live, you are still with me. Whether I live or die—all is well with my soul and for that truth I am grateful.” I stretched out on the bathroom floor and fell asleep.

A loud tapping sound woke me. I opened my eyes to the light of dawn filtering through the slit at the bottom of the bathroom door…**

© 2002 Stanice Anderson, excerpt from I Say A Prayer For Me: One Woman’s Life of Faith and Triumph, Walk Worthy Press/Warner Books

While "Light In The Dark" is a true story from my book, I believe that God wanted it to be for times such as these…freely God gave to me…and freely I give to you. And now, I feel compelled to pray.

Dear Heavenly Father,

I pray a special prayer today for those of us who Hurricane Katrina threatens. Thank you God that you are greater still than any hurricane…than any one thing and any combination of things. You alone are God Almighty and you promise never to leave us nor forsake us. Father keep us safe, keep our loved ones safe, keep even strangers to us who are no strangers to you SAFE. Station your infinite number of guardian angels around us to protect us, minister to us especially in the darkest hours. Lord for those of us that don’t know you as their personal Lord and Savior even during the storm let them experience first-hand and personally Your grace and mercy. Let them know that you are just a prayer away and that You are The Light that dispels ANY AND ALL Darkness. Grant us peace that surpasses all human understanding. In Jesus’ Name, I pray. Amen. So be it.

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You Are A Miracle

Click here: You Are A Miracle Flash Movie by Terri McPherson

Walking on Water

What am I doing?
I’m living so completely contradictory to what man says. Mine is not a traditional life but only life as I’ve come to know it. A series of leaps of faith, walks on water, climbs to mountaintops, exiles to deserts, dodging shadows in valleys and refusing to be a Jesus cliché. Everyday I awake expecting miracles, favor and success. My bank account says “it ain’t happening.” The bills say, “You’ve got to be kiddin’. Debt-free? We ain’t having it.” The mortgage company says, “Just half-step one time…” But the Holy Spirit empowers me call what is not as if it already is and believe that the impossible is highly probable and that the possible is just too easy for God--anyway.

What am I doing?
Calling what is not as if it already is. With a child’s heart, I’m choosing to believe and take God at His Word as poured on in Jeremiah chapter 29, verses 11 through 12. “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart”

What am I doing?
Trusting God!

© 2005 Stanice Anderson

Letting Go

Perhaps like me, God has been teaching you the art of Letting Go. Letting go of the old in order to embrace the new. Letting go of what is not working so that He can bring to me what is. Letting go of trying to fix it or work it out on my own...and letting Him bring His perfect will and plans into my life.

Letting go of the old ideas that are not based on the THE living WORD of God but soul-draining stuff grafted on my mind over years of listening to what the world has to say...simply because what God has to say is contrary to the lies I've been bombarded with all my life. Lies and misconceptions like from the poem, Invictus, by William Ernest Henley, which I had to learn in high school, "I am the master of my fate the captain of my soul."

Then ushered in by the Madison Avenue ad agencies was the "me generation.” The world instructed me to look into the mirror and repeat affirmations like, "it all about me and my inner child." And let's forget the golden-arched message "you deserve a break today." What I deserved was death by inverted crucifixion but what I got was God's unmerited favor! He sent his only son, Christ Jesus to die on the cross for me and my sins; so that I could have life and that more abundantly. I'll be honest with you. It would be extremely difficult for you to pry my "only" cup of coffee out of my grasp--even at the expense of 3rd degree burns on my hands. Give up my only son? Any son? Any child? For anybody? Unthinkable! No way, ever!

Yes, letting go of the hype and replacing it with God's truths. Letting go of the bitterness so He can replace it with His Love. Letting go of the anger so He can replace it with His peace that surpasses all human understanding--especially mine. (Philippians 4:7)

Letting go of the plans and dreams I have for myself or allowed others to force-feed me so that He can orchestrate into my life His perfect plans prepared long before I was born. (Jeremiah 29:11-13)

Letting go of the fear-based procrastination and embracing the life and reality of God's words, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." (2nd Timothy 1:5) Letting go of all that's broken in my life--relationships--emotions--ideas--concepts--beliefs about myself and others.

LETTING IT ALLLLLLLLL GOOOOOOOOOOO. The burdens, the frustrations, the hopelessness, trying to understand the profundity of life when His ways are so far and above our ways and His thoughts higher than our thoughts could ever hope to be. (Isaiah 55:9) The most viable and empowering solution eludes me like my own shadow in the blazing afternoon sun -- Free-Falling back into the all-powerful and loving arms of God and RESTING. Resting like David who in Psalm 131 wrote, "I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me." (Psalm 131:2)

A group of us discussed such things in the last Feast on THE WORD Gathering. The Lord brought to my remembrance this poem which I printed, distributed and now, I feel led to share with you.

"Broken Dreams"

As children bring their broken toys
With tears for us to mend,
I brought my broken dreams to God,
Because He was my friend.
But then instead of leaving Him,
In peace to work alone,
I hung around and tried to help,
With ways that were my own.
At last, I snatched them back and cried,
"How can you be so slow?"
"My child," He said, "What could I do?
"You never did let go.

Author Unknown

© 2005 Stanice Anderson www.stanice.com