THE TORNADOS IN OUR LIVES

Some years ago I was traveling down the east side Oklahoma in what is known as Tornado Alley, during tornado season.   The following was given to me by the Lord. I have never shared this and only just recently found the paper I wrote it all out on.  Kind of hard as you drive down the road.  I hope and pray that you will be blessed by it.

Tornado's happen. You don't wish for them, you don't ask for them, they happen.  Not up to us. Something in the air occurs and we are victims. One takes off half the house.  We call the insurance company and they come out an assess the damage and the damage is fixed.  It is after all my house, I own it.

OR we can build a wall to hide that half and sit around being angry about the damage the tornado did.  Blaming the tornado for half our house being unusable. Choosing to ignore.  And we can be mad at God for allowing it to happen. After all, isn't He always with us?  How could a loving God allow that tornado to destroy half my house.

Tornadoes happen (not our fault) and they usually happen to what belongs to us.  We can only repair, rebuild, restore what belongs to us.  In our lives pain, suffering, abuse, etc., happen.  Not our fault, not of our choosing, didn't ask for it.  We can wall off that part of our lives and act as if it doesn't exist.  But it does.  We can blame the tragedy for everything that happens to us afterwards.  We blame it for the way we are. We can blame a person for everything that has gone wrong. And we can be mad at God (though we would never confess to that) for not being there to stop it; for not loving us enough to step in; for not making that person pay for what they did to me.

Now the hard part.  No one can repair or restore what does not belong to them.  No one can heal or deliver us from what is ours.

Tragedy happens. Not of our choosing.

God love us, He cares for us, He wants to deliver us, heal our hurts, our bruises caused by others.  Only when we come to Him and ask Him to forgive us for not coming to Him sooner can He start the restoration of our lives.  Also, He will teach us to forgive. Forgive those who caused the hurts. Only then can the restoration project be completed.

Just like a rebuilding or restoration project on a house takes time, just so His restoration project, us, will take time.  The verse comes to mind in Ecclesiastes 3:11a, "He has made everything beautiful in its time...".

A home rebuilding project takes a comparatively long time.  God's rebuilding project in our lives can take a long time.  No one else can rush it, or demand we get over it and act as if it never happened. Others can hold our hands, support us with love and prayers, but only God can do the rebuilding.

God is the Master Craftsman.  He will do the work with love and an eye to detail.  Isn't it thoughtful that Jesus was a carpenter?  A Master Craftsman.