I had a beautiful opportunity to do that very thing this past weekend...
A major ice storm hit Oklahoma on Thursday morning. We received enough freezing rain to coat every exposed surface with almost an inch of ice. At around 5:30, our electricity flickered briefly and then all was dark and quiet.
The next three days were all very similar... Not much to do when the power's out. By Sunday our lives had pretty much become a round of bringing in clean snow to melt for various purposes, including drinking, bringing in wood, making sure our animals had fresh water...
There's nothing quite like coming in from a world of snow and ice, and taking off your boots and jacket, and feeling nice and warm... and then stepping in a puddle of melted snow from the previous person's boots...
We had many character-building experiences over those three days... :)
Sunday afternoon we went outside to play freeze tag in the snow. Matthew had made some paths in the snow, and with a few modifications to the rules of freeze tag, it made a very fun game. When we came back into the house, we had a surprise! The power was on!
God was so merciful to us...
Even if it seemed hard at the time...
The power stayed on all of Monday. Tuesday morning... it blinked some more, and then it went off again! We were somewhat more prepared this time, though. It was still not what we had wanted... as could be expected... :) But we did have some jars of clean water sitting on the counter, and lots of wood for the stove...
We had some errands to run Tuesday, and we hoped the power would be on when we returned. But it wasn't... We spent a dark evening...
At 7:45, when it was really dark, suddenly the power came on! We were so excited to have it back! But this time we knew there was a possibility that it would not stay on.
This time it has stayed on (at least for now...)
I learned a lot from that time. I had plenty of time to contemplate what God wants me to do. And also, I realized that in our modern culture, we don't give ourselves time to slow down, and be still, and know that He is God. It's so easy to rush from one thing to another, and try to get everything done that we possibly can... Productivity and efficiency and hard work are good, but overworking ourselves to the point where we lose our sense of God's presence are not. I've been there... But the Lord has been showing me that I need to take more time in His presence, not only in my morning time with Him, but all through the day.
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An interesting little story...
When the power came back on Sunday night, the ice hadn't melted yet. All the trees were still bent over with the weight of inch-thick ice. It ended up that there was a tree branch touching the power line... You can guess what happened when the power came back on.
Again, God was very merciful to us, and it burned out and fell where it no longer made contact with the line. Praise Him!
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