04/07/11

Cherry Blossoms with the sun shining through the blooms.

It has been windy a lot in the last week.

Last Saturday we saw that wind knock over booths at our Super Saturday. We had to hold on to our cups!

Monday was even worse. The wind was howling and blowing everything.

Steve came in that day and said he was ready for the wind to stop and I had to agree.

Last night in my devotions I read something that made me think of wind in a different way. Wind is like the difficulties and trials in our lives.

We want them to stop.

We want them to stop beating us up and ripping us apart.

However, when I read this in my devotions I had a new outlook on the wind. It comes from Job and how God talked to him through a whirlwind to show him that God is always in control.

God did not forget Job and He won't forget you. When the storms of life threaten to beat you down, God is there, in His grace and sovereignty. He sometimes sends the winds of adversity, not to beat us down, but to strengthen, and fortify us.

For two years scientists sequestered themselves in an artificial environment called Biosphere 2, a structure built to be an artificial, materially-closed ecological system in Oracle, Arizona. Inside their self-sustaining community, the Biospherians created a number of mini-environments, including a desert, a rain forest, and even an ocean. Nearly every weather condition could be simulated except one, wind.

Over time, the effects of their windless environment became apparent. A number of acacia trees bent over and even snapped. Without the stress of wind to strengthen the wood, the trunks grew weak and could not hold up their own weight. (www.b2science.org.)

The harsh conditions, the winds of adversity - all help to strengthen us.

Through trials we become stronger in ways we never would have imagined. It is not pleasant to go through them, but the strength we attain is worth it all in the end.

In the midst of Job's trial, what did he say?

Job 13:15
Though he slay me, yet will I trust him: