In the Stillness of the...Ice?

Psalm 46:1, "God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble."

James 1:2-4, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."

2009 began as a very tough year for me; one that would mark a dramatic change in not only my life in general, but also in the direction the Lord was going to take me! A journey, a long, painful, and amazing journey, to a new level of Faith. In November 2014, I wrote an article called, "Our Moments of Impact" that can be found here.  This could be considered a companion article to this one. The journey I'm about to share can be classified as one of those moments of impact!!! Something that would turn my entire life upside down and around.

The above Scriptures were my greatest leverage throughout this journey and especially in this story that I'm about to share. We all have a moment of impact, or a point of reference, for specific things that were pivotal in changing our lives, our direction in life, our thoughts, or our Faith. The company I worked for at the time, closed its doors in early January 2009. Although I was devastated, it was something I actually was relieved about because that position was one that I jumped ahead of the Lord and accepted and it turned out to be a grave mistake! I was sent to another state for training and the first day I walked into the place to meet the two people I was to shadow, I knew right away, this was not only a huge mistake, but that I was not in the place where God wanted me! This would prove to be wildly correct on the first day I reported to work after training! After just two hours, I was near tears, I was sick to my stomach and TWO co-workers left and never returned! I asked the Lord for His forgiveness for not listening and jumping ahead of Him, taking a job that I wanted over the one He was preparing for me! It was one of the harder lessons I would have to learn! Waiting on the Lord.

A week later, my 10 year old best furry friend cat got extremely sick and became very lethargic so I rushed her to the vet's office and she ended up in the hospital for 4 days on IV drips. She was diagnosed with diabetes, a severe infection with extreme dehydration. Her diabetes would remain under control due to my diligence and God's grace for 6 years, much longer than expected given her condition. 6 years later, in June of 2015 at the age of 16.5 years old, she went into kidney failure and had to be put down. Another moment of impact for another time! Anyway, they sent me home with insulin, syringes and antibiotics with strict dietary instructions that were to begin immediately. We were home no longer than a week and a half, just got her regulated on the insulin shots and the diet change, when.....on January 26, 2009 in the evening, the historic ice storm began! That particular January 2009 North American ice storm was such a major ice storm that it actually impacted parts of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky. It would prove to be one of my most trying, frightening and resourceful times! So, keep in mind, I just lost my job, my cat got ill and was nearing death, I hadn't gotten my unemployment checks yet, no other resources AND this storm hits. All in the same horrifying month!

At first, I didn't put much stock in this upcoming “storm” because even the newscasters didn't make it sound like something of much concern. It just wasn't something that concerned me too much to the point that I would "worry." Well, since even the newscasters didn't seem to be much concerned for our area, and I'd lived here long enough to know that "heavy" snows weren't really a big concern and were rare at best, as was usually the case, they threw out the "cautionary" watch anyway. Nobody, including those reporting, ever thought it was going to end up being the "storm of the century" and caught many by surprise. They said the usual things, they gave the usual warnings. They told us all the normal and usual things as a cautionary warning to prepare for in a typical storm. But this? This, I would soon find out, would take on a life of its own. It would destroy homes, lives and whole cities. It would be so intense that the sheer weight of the ice broke power lines, busted pipes, and downed MANY trees that would crash into structures, damaging homes, barns, vehicles, property and anything that was in their paths. It would freeze time and force silence upon the busyness of all the states affected. It was haunting to say the least. Another sure companion to this story that I wrote back in May 2014 called, "God's Favor and Divine Protection" can also be found here. During this whole "epic storm" ordeal, I surely was given God's Favor and His Divine Protection! Something I STILL thank Him for to this day!

My Beautiful Pine Tree Heavy with ICE!

At first, the storm wasn't supposed to head our direction so nobody really had too much anxiety about it. Even if it did head our direction, the strength of it would likely die out by the time it hit as it did many, many times before. The day of the evening that it hit, it took a turn quickly. I had my flashlights ready, I'd already went to the store for the typical items, bread, milk, and the likes. I gassed up the car. I had the bare necessities that one would usually have on hand in case of a few hours, or even a day, of a power outage. I will add here that I ALMOST didn't even get the typical items because it really didn't worry me, but the prompting of the Holy Spirit forced me to so I heeded His voice. Then I hunkered down for the ride. Me and Squirrel, my cat, cuddled up on the couch, watching the 24 hour coverage, praying for protection to keep us safe, occasionally getting up to look outside just to see if the snow was hitting us yet. Snow. Just snow. At first, that was all it was supposed to be. Snow. When the storm shifted directions, and with the swiftness, it was only then that sleet/ice started being mentioned. Again, not really something major, or at least nothing worse than it's been before around here. Sleet and ice are kind of common for this area BUT not very much of it. Nothing lasting, that's for sure. They had just cautioned us about slick roads being possible for the morning commuters and for any travelers that were on the roads. They threw in a possibility of maybe a chance of closures in and around the viewing area. Closures? We would all find out shortly that the entire state would be CLOSED! Again, just the typical warnings that MAY or MAY NOT occur. This would soon become apparent that it was the biggest UNDERSTATEMENT of the season! Of the year. Of the century! As the storm moved closer, the numbers began to change just as swiftly. At that point, I began to get a little concerned and something inside of me told me to make sure my cell phone was fully charged, gather all flashlights, all the candles I could find, get all the covers and comforters, get the cat carrier and bible ready. Once I did so, I settled back down, kept my eye on the news and I checked on my elderly neighbor to make sure she was prepared as much as she could be and then I waited.....

Early evening, the sleet began to fall. The temperature was just right for the sleet to quickly turn to ice. It began to coat everything! Everywhere! Salt wouldn't remove THIS so no use even trying, although the city did their due diligence to protect the citizens as best they could. The last thing I remembered before the lights went out, was the weatherman saying to stay off the roads, stay inside, and expect some power outages and downed lines. They began to worry as to the power and strength of this storm and warned us this there could be a wide spread outage. I was happy that I listened to my feeling, which was the Holy Spirit prompting me to get ready, because in all of my years, I had never experienced anything quite like what I was just about to endure! As I was listening and watching the coverage, I began to see a pattern in which the direction of the storms were taking on. I searched my house, high and low, for as many lighters as I could and batteries. I never did keep a reserve of batteries so I gathered whatever I could find. I made one last full sweep of the house to get things together, hoping not to miss anything, and watched the last 30 minutes of the news when I saw some flashes on the back streets of my house. They lost power. I heard some popping noises, I saw a ticker on the bottom of the t.v. saying the storm had hit our state with a vengeance.

Then everything went black. Stark black. An eerie black. A QUIET black. The entire area for as far as anyone could SEE with our naked, bare eyes, was black. It was a quiet black that I'd never experienced in my life! The darkest black because there was a total ABSENCE of LIGHT for miles! Silent. Cold. Icy. This wasn't a typical blackout! And this definitely wasn't a typical storm. This was a city wide blackout. No heat. No light. No hot water. I immediately turned on my cold water in three of my faucets to a small stream to prevent my pipes from freezing. Although I was unemployed and wasn't receiving my checks yet, I didn't care about how much the water bill was going to be. I'd worry about that later. After all of this was over, my quick thinking of turning my cold water on saved my pipes from freezing and cracking and/or breaking like MANY others had happen to them. This was something I've not had to do much of in many years because it just doesn't get cold enough in my area to worry much about that. So, after making sure my water was running, I put on my coat, gloves, scarf, extra socks and readied my covers then I went to the backdoor and I looked outside only to find ice and snow covering everything. Everywhere. It came quickly, coating everything in sight. It was quite a beautiful sight as it was fresh snow and glistening ice! But I also knew the dangers too. At this point, the ice wasn't heavy enough to concern me too much because it "just" seemed to be power outages. I looked out of my front door, down the street both ways, and there was an eerie silence that I couldn't quite explain. Then I went back on the couch, sat down, called Squirrel up with me and waited.....and waited.

But nothing was happening. The electric was still off. I had no hot water. Phone lines were down. Power lines were down. Generators were blown. It was cold and the outside temperatures were dropping. Thank God for cell phones because at that point, it was the only connection to the outside world that I had and even at that, it was limited because the cell towers were also affected, some partly due to the storm and others due to the rash of callers trying to make calls to their loved ones, police departments, fire departments. We were in an emergency situation. In these temperatures, I worried about keeping warm. That was my immediate focus. My car was in the garage, which is a built in garage, but under the house, in the back of the house. Down a hill! I was totally TRAPPED! I have a drop ranch, one story in front and it drops down to a two story in the backside down the hill. So I couldn't have gotten the car up the hill anyway even if I could have opened the garage door. The driveway was quickly accumulating ice at such a rapid pace that I was in shock. I'd never seen anything like this before and at the speed it was accumulating, I knew it wouldn't be long before things began to take a turn for the worse if it didn't slow down or stop SOON. Even if I had put the car up at the top of the driveway in anticipation of the storm, I wasn't going ANYWHERE anyway because all of the roads weren't drivable!! The whole city was stuck! Yes, we all were stuck.

I didn't have much to go by as to what was happening in the outside world because I didn't have a radio that ran on batteries. I thought and thought and decided to go down to my car and turn it on for a few minutes at a time for HEAT for myself and my cat and while doing so, listen to any broadcast that I could manage to tune into. What I heard was not only surprising but shocking! I KNEW this wasn't going to be an easy time and I'd better prepare myself much better than I originally planned. I had no fireplace or generators. I wasn't able to leave my home. I didn't have much by way of keeping warm so I had to get creative. I didn't know or even have an educated guess as to how long this was going to last for, but that really didn't matter at the moment. What mattered was right then and there. What was I going to do to keep myself and my cat warm? It's amazing what a disaster will do to your survival instincts! I calmed myself a little and tried to remain calm for the time being and near midnight, I went back down to my car, which I could get to through my basement, to check the weather. At this point, every station within reception were SOLELY reporting on this storm. I was shocked to hear that this "outage" was not just city wide, but the ENTIRE state! Then I heard it impacted 7 other states! This wasn't a little storm. This was epic! And that's when I KNEW it was going to a long time before our city's, and state's, power would be restored.

So for the first night, I wore several layers of clothes that I could gather in the dark, got all the covers I could find, and went to the room in the middle of the house. It couldn't be a room on an outside walls because that would be the coldest due to the walls facing the outside. Around 2 am I said my prayers and tried to sleep......I awoke around 4 in the morning to the sounds of crackling and breaking and thumps and bumps! I grabbed my flashlight and went to investigate. I could hear my own breathing and heartbeat! It was THAT silent! That was my first inclination that something was really, really wrong. It being THAT silent, THAT quiet enough to hear one's own breathing and heartbeat was mind blowing! I opened the door and just stood there in amazement! The ice was nearly 3 inches thick at this point and STILL coming down. Remember, this just the FIRST night. The weather reported we were due for snow as well on top of the ice.....my heart sank. The kind of snow that would accompany something like this would be wet and HEAVY. This spelled disaster on top of one disaster already in action! The weight of snow on top of the weight of the ice? I wasn't ready to see the outcome of this! There really aren't any words to describe the feeling one gets when you KNOW something is happening around you, coming right at you, holding you captive yet being completely stuck in place. Trapped within your own homes, some were trapped in their businesses or workplaces, and some even still, were trapped in cars. There were some people throughout the city that were able to get to hotels with generators for back up, and others still were able to get to shelters with generator backup. The rest of us, well, we were stuck in place and time....waiting it out because we had no other choice or alternative.

The crackling and snapping and thumps and bumps were all due to the ice breaking off limbs, downing branches and finally trees! Wires were snapping off everywhere too. I have several trees all along the side of my home, and two in front. There is one specific one that I immediately worried about because it was directly over my roof and DEAD. Due to the size of it, I wasn't able to financially get it cut down and thus far, the Lord has protected me from it coming crashing down!! Even through the microburst storm I wrote about in the article mentioned above, "God's Favor and Divine Protection!" It remains untouched to this day. Still dead. Still losing branches little by little. But remains standing. Thank the good Lord! I prayed that it be spared because had it fallen from the weight of the ice, and soon to be snow on top of it, it would have caved in my roof and part of my home! And God heard my prayers!!!! I really DO need to get that tree cut down! Eventually, I will when the Lord provides the way and means to do so! I did, however, lose two large, very mature trees and SEVERAL limbs and large branches. NO damage to my neighbors property or mine from those fallen trees. They fell into the fullness of my yard where no structures were in their path. I'll discuss the rest of the "damage" later in the post as it pertains to the story.

The storm ended up producing widespread power outages for over 3 million people due to heavy ice accumulation. The ice was so heavy there were trees falling all over the place, not just young trees, but mature, aged trees, STRONG trees! I would soon find out that our area and part of the state was the hardest hit areas out of all the states impacted. With well over 500,000 residences without power during the height of the storm, including 100,000 without power for over one week, this was something to worry about now. I fell into the 100,000 statistics because I was without power for 13 LONG days! It was the worst natural disaster in the state's history! This ice storm killed 35 people in my state alone and I believe the total deaths from the storm itself topped 70 across all affected states! Those aren't the total numbers of people who were injured or hospitalized or those with current health issues that had an emergency situation so I can only imagine the impact of this storm. I remember hearing about some people who were on oxygen and the emergency vehicles couldn't reach them! I can only imagine the sheer terror of those poor souls! Well, by the end of the third day, after the temperatures continued to drop, after the inches of snow fell, and after getting into survival mode, I had to begin to figure out something for shelter. Something better than just in the open rooms of the house because it was getting colder and I was feeling weaker. My survival instincts kicked into high gear when I realized I would be without power for awhile and I'd better figure out some way to keep warm. I even thanked God for my cat because I had something to focus on besides the "fear" that was knocking at my door. I couldn't reach too many people by phone because as you can imagine, the airwaves were flooded. I also needed to save battery charge and couldn't run my car too long at a time because it was in the enclosed garage. That's obviously dangerous not to mention I would use up gas too quickly, so I used my head while it was still clearly thinking, to keep the gas that I had in the tank as long as needed.

I prayed for the Lord to help me THINK clearly and to guide me in my thoughts. Each day was harder and harder. Each day I was getting weaker and weaker and I could begin to feel like I wasn't able to get, and KEEP, my body warm enough. I remembered that I had a wall thermometer I'd keep beside my thermostat to make sure the thermostat was working properly, a hint from my service professional. So I took that thermometer down, and placed it in different parts of the house to find the "warmest" spot. Now I know that sounds absolutely crazy, but it would end up being a blessing in disguise that I was led to do that. I took it from room to room and let the temperature be gauged. The INSIDE temperature on the first level all varied between 18* F to 22* F depending on the location of the room and the time of day. The lowest reading was actually 14* F. So for some reason I thought to take it in my basement, where one would think would be the COLDEST part of the house. And for all intents and purposes, it SHOULD be since it's underground and half of mine is exposed because of the style of home I have. But tucked away in a little part of the basement that was underground, I found a "warm" spot. A whole 30* F! I knew this was where I would be spending A LOT of my time....and I needed to look around for stuff to make a shelter in the basement to protect me and Squirrel a little more from the cold. This find was late at night so in the morning, I would begin my "building" of my little hut.

I didn't sleep all that well as you can imagine. As my plans were solid to start building my "hut" I started going through the house as best I could, all bundled up, finding whatever I could to shield me and my cat from the cold. I include my cat because she was ill and not fully recovered so she couldn't raise her temperature up. It was just her and I and I had to protect her too. After a few hours, I had my new "dwelling" place in my corner of the basement. Now I had to make me a makeshift bed. I couldn't physically drag my mattress downstairs by myself, and even if I could, I wouldn't have been able to get it back UP. So once again, I prayed for ideas. He gave me exactly what I needed. I cut up several boxes longer than I am tall and about as wide as a twin mattress would be. I laid them on the floor, stacked about 2 inches thick. I covered those with the cushions from my couch, put a sheet over it and voila! My new bed. The cardboard protected me from the cold cement of the basement, the cushions gave me something soft to lay and sit on and under the "hut" that I built, it seemed ideal. I even brought down some "food" to keep me halfway nourished. I couldn't eat any of the meat in the refrigerator, as it was unsafe due to the refrigerator being out all this time. The first few days I ate the lunch meat and some of the yogurt, milk and stuff that would spoil the quickest, Nothing of real substance after that though. Crackers, canned goods, and peanut butter. I drank water and juice til the juice was all gone. I just couldn't believe how long this was lasting! What was worse, is I didn't know when it would END!

The ice and snow fell for days but it was the temperature that kept it there! The ice remained for over 12 days in my area and in some areas in my state, it remained for over 3-4 weeks! The temperatures fell drastically one evening, around the 8th or 9th day to below 0. That was the night I couldn't get warm no matter what I did, no matter how hard I tried. Nothing was working and I began to get a little frightened. I prayed like I never prayed before. I cried out to the Lord in such a way that I was desperate for His voice and His touch! I felt it and heard it all through this disaster, but this night? This night I was desperate in a much different way!! I knew hypothermia could be a very real possibility!! With the way I was losing heat and not being able to warm myself, well, the thought crossed my mind more than I'd like to admit. I even called my sister when I finally got through asking for prayers! I told her I wasn't able to keep warm and I was really trying. I told her I worried that I wouldn't make it out alive. She prayed. I prayed. I'm sure there were others praying. I was able to text more than call and I'd sent out a few here and there when I had reception but during that time, God had begun cleansing my life of all the toxic friendships and relationships that I seemed to have gotten involved in and I really didn't have anyone besides one person, to call friend. She happened to be in the same boat as myself.....in a city nearby. Prayers were the only thing holding me together at this point. While laying for hours upon hours on my little makeshift bed, in my makeshift hut, that's all I had....PRAYERS and JESUS CHRIST MY LORD AND SAVIOR!!! It would prove to be more than enough.

One of My Downed Trees

As I mentioned above, I was without power for 13 LONG days and trapped inside my home!! It felt like there was no way out. Nowhere to go. Each day was an adventure and each night was a miracle. Each day that I would look outside and all around, or venture outside to check on my neighbor and property, it was the most uneasy feeling one could ever experience. Not because it was frightening or scary. No. It was because it was like the the world around me stopped. No noises. No voices. No cars. No trucks. No trains. No airplanes in the skies. No birds flying. No animal life. Nothing. As I mentioned, that one night I could hear myself breathing and my own heartbeat, was just the hint of what was to come. I didn't realize it that night, but I would soon find out quick enough! Not even in the deepest parts of the woods, in the most remote parts of the world, would you find this kind of silence. An exaggeration? Not at all. That's what made it so eerie. All of the normal everyday sounds were gone. I walked to the back of my home, and I was only able to do so because I had Yak Traks that slipped over my shoes/boots made specifically for ICE and snow, and I stood there for about 10 minutes and all I could hear for MILES were crackling of the ice breaking all of the trees, limbs and branches. Nothing else. I said a long prayer out there that day. For all of our protection in the whole state, for everyone to seek His face in this trying time and for all of us to be in good health when we came through this, because, I KNEW, we'd come through it. My elderly neighbor and I prayed for each other. I kept a close watchful eye on her, as she lost her husband not long before.

During those long days and nights, mostly with very little sleep, I did a lot of talking to God. But better yet, HE did a lot of talking to ME. Something I NEEDED in my life at the time. I talked and prayed a lot, but, forgot to stop long enough to listen. He showed Himself to me in a powerful, profound way during this time. I found a renewed Faith that, due to recent experiences, waned. I found His voice to be more comforting than I'd remembered. I found His arms wrapped around me carrying me through each moment, letting me know I was SAFE in His ARMS. Those long tiring painful days/nights, taught me so many things about God, about Jesus Christ, about what's important, about getting through the "storms" in life, about where we are to focus and about myself. It taught me that I needed more than I had at that moment of time in my life. I'd wandered down a path I shouldn't have ventured down. I fell into the world just enough to feel convicted more often than not. Nothing I'm proud about but then again, we all slip and slide from time to time. I didn't remain there, although I could have easily chosen to stay on that path. Towards the middle to end of 2008, I'd begun to feel this longing again. I was beginning to feel the tugging of Jesus calling me, waving me back on the right path. I was stumbling all through that year when this "storm" hit. Jesus wouldn't let me though. He had been running after me for a few years, maybe 2-3, to get me back on track. Funny though, during that time, I never stopped praying, talking to Him, spending time with Him nor did I give up my relationship with Him. It just wasn't as strong as it was, should have or could have been and during these 13 days, He proved that to me in a new and exciting way! He was ALL I HAD during those long, painful days.

During the entire time, my focus was on God first, me and my cat's safety next and then it was on what God wanted me to focus on. MYSELF. My SPIRITUAL self. I had nothing but time on my hands and it's amazing what silence, measured out for that long amount of time will do to you! You will either break in a million pieces and get angry with God, or, you will seek His face, gain His strength through your weakness and come out much stronger and closer to Jesus than before the "storm" hit. We have two choices when we are suddenly thrown into the middle of a storm. We either run away from it, hiding our faces, and remaining weak, or we turn and face it, go against it and let the Lord bring us through it! After all, He brought us to it, or in this case He brought IT to US, and He promises to get us through it. He did get me through it just as He promised! The latter brings us strength, perseverance, endurance and much more faith than we had before the storm hit! Faith ALWAYS triumphs in troubled times! Always. In Romans 5:1-5 Paul says, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by Faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulations produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." We need to be patient in our tribulations, or our storms if you will, and continue to pray steadfastly because our only hope in this world IS the Lord Jesus Christ! This was a STORM and TRIBULATION because the storm WAS the tribulation. I had to see it, experience it, and get through it to know what it was, and more importantly, how God was using it in my life! This epic ice storm produced all that is mentioned in His word: peace, Faith through grace, hope, glory in tribulations, perseverance, character.

God will allow His children to go through trials and tribulations to teach us, to guide us, to grow us! If you look back on your lives right now and look at some of the storms you've faced, and how those storms have changed you and grew you, then you understand how important trials and tribulations are in the course of our walk with the Lord! I wouldn't be who I am today if I hadn't faced the storms I was brought to, and came through! Make no mistake, I, along with every other Christian, have turned and ran from some storms.....being in denial, remaining weak. But, what I've learned from those hiding places was simple; they will come around again, in a different form, in a different time, because when God wants, and needs, us to be in a certain appointed place, to do a specific mission, then He will do what is necessary to equip us along the way so that we are ABLE do His Will when He asks us to! So that we WON'T run and hide. So we WILL call upon Him for our strength. Our storms are also a reminder for us in our future that "With God, everything is possible." He got us through it once, He will get us through it again, over and over and over again! Praise the Lord for His love!

The Weight of the Ice!

As I was facing down this storm, while I was listening for His guidance on HOW to survive, while stumbling and crying one too many tears, I was also growing stronger. I learned a lot about myself during the most unrelenting, horrifying and amazing time. For most of my life, people would call me strong. I never viewed myself as such, always brushing it off as just a "strong will." Strength, I learned, wasn't about the physicality of the word, but it went much deeper. It was a strength that resided in me that showed Himself to others around me. It was Jesus Christ. It was His strength that everyone saw because for most of that time when others would call me "strong," were the weakest I've ever felt. But during the days and nights in my makeshift hut, He showed me the "strength" people saw and He showed me how weakness draws upon His strength. I surrendered my will during that time. I told the Lord to use me, to give me a testimony from this experience, to help build me into the person He wanted me to be. As I was spending all of that time with the Lord, being completely stripped of outside interference, having absolutely no distractions, I also learned just how devious and sneaky the enemy really is. During this time, no matter how many times the Lord would promise to get me through this and keep me and my home safe, the enemy would come along, especially when I was at my weakest, sleep-deprived, nutritionally lax and at my coldest, and plant seeds of doubt that I WASN'T going to make it! Or he'd bring up those friendships that the Lord removed just weeks and months before, and tried to make me question whether my decision to end them was the right thing to do or not. Even the unemployment was a mind game free-for-all for the enemy. He wanted me to doubt so bad. Mind games was all that was and when you're in a state of "survival" and you're hanging on to HOPE, mind games are the last thing you need to deal with! Doubt isn't a place you want to remain in during a crisis. Doubt becomes a pit and that pit is dug even deeper with each doubt you give to the enemy. Trust me, TRUSTING the promises of God is MUCH easier and better than "receiving" doubt from the enemy!

I wanted to share this story with you because it's one of the most powerful, moving, and intense times of my life. I couldn't tell you every day what I went through because it would take up pages! I tried to give you a glimpse into the intensity of the storm, how, during the coldest, darkest, most trying times, the Lord met me right where I was, and right where He wanted me. He got my FULL attention. I tried to describe how 13 days of pure silence, no outside interference, and no distractions, forced me to rely on the ONLY person who WOULD and COULD get me through the most unbearable days. I wanted to share this with you because even while I was facing down that horrendous storm, looking it right in the face, Jesus was speaking to me, guiding my way. It was HIS thoughts and suggestions that came to my head to make the makeshift "hut" and makeshift "bed." It was HIS thoughts and suggestions to gather the candles, food, batteries and such before the storm hit. It was HIS thoughts and suggestions for me to use the thermometer to find the "warmest" place in the house. He spoke to me clearly, lovingly and compassionately. While I was laying one night on that makeshift bed, I remember thinking that this ice storm was a metaphor for the "storms" and tribulations we go through in this life and how the Lord is with us through it all as a child of God. I remember praying for the lost and unsaved that they turn towards Him and know that He is REAL and alive. In my state, there are many remote country areas that are hard to get to in this kind of weather. I prayed that God would send His army of angels to protect those who would be caught out there for much longer than us in the city would be due solely to the impassibility of the roads leading to those remote areas!!! Each day and night brought me new insight, new revelations and a renewal of spirit that I'd longed for in the past few years or so. It also taught me how to survive in a much more MAGNIFICENT way!!! Not from MY survival techniques, but through Jesus Christ and relying on Him! He was the one that carried me through. Not me. During each of those cold, dark, lonely days and nights, God would also cleanse me of unrepented sins, things in my life that shouldn't be there, desires that were worldly were replaced with desires of a spiritual manner and opened my eyes in a new way to things that needed to be seen through His eye. He cleansed me a lot during those 13 days, but it would continue for longer after it was over! It was an amazing time in my life yet, so unconventional. I might add that as I've looked back on my life's experiences and moments of impact, the most amazing times have BEEN the most unconventional and inconvenient times! I wouldn't have it any other way!

Now just to touch on the damage, or lack thereof, that also plays a part in this storm and trial. As I said, I had two very large, mature trees topple over in my yard along with SEVERAL branches and limbs strewn all over. I had part of my gutter break free from the roof, the electric meter broke from freezing over and ran constantly during that time when there was NO heat! I lost a freezer and refrigerator FULL of food, recently purchased. No REAL damage like many people ended up having, including caved in roofs, or leaks in their roofs, cars with engine failure due to extreme exposure of long periods of inaction, and fires caused from trying to keep warm and car accidents and injuries. When the electricity finally came back on, there was a GREAT surge in the neighborhood and because we all weren't able to listen to any outside advice, the surge completely blew out my water heater hot elements! I was without HOT water for two and a half months before the insurance company was able to get to me. Talk about creative!!! The insurance covered replacing my hot water heater and replace my food. They gave me a little extra to get the corner of my gutter fixed. The trees weren't covered because they didn't damage my property or a neighbor's property. I survived those two and a half months without hot water because I just boiled pans of water and used it that way. I would quickly wash my hair in the cold water. It felt like the LONGEST two and a half months! But I got through it. God not only clearly protected me and Squirrel during this epic ice storm, He then clearly protected my property by allowing the insurance company to replace my hot water heater completely. Most of the insurance companies wouldn't do so because it hadn't been recently purchased, but God gave me Favor!!! He was ALWAYS there through it all and ALWAYS ahead of me!

As we do face the storms, not just the natural storms, but the spiritual ones as well, we must not be weary because our strength in the flesh is fleeting and wanes after awhile. Our strength needs to be put in the Lord, because HIS strength is forever and it's IN His strength that all of our battles are fought, and won! Psalm 71:16, "I will go in the strength of the Lord God; I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only." and as another one of my favorite comforting verses says, Psalm 107:28-30, "Then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble, and He brings them out of their distresses. He calms the storm, So that its waves are still. Then they are glad because they are quiet; So He guides them to their desired haven." It doesn't matter how long our storms last, how weak we think we have become, nor how violent the lightning strikes appear. It's not what we need to focus on. It's not what our eyes need to see. We need to remember there is a purpose in each storm we face, each trial and tribulation that we stumble upon. Let us not forget that in order to grow in the Lord, to be strong in the Lord, and to be used in and for His greatness, we must be tested, tried and molded! The only way to do that is to face the storms head on and continue to reach for the strength of the Lord. He will provide the boat, the shelter, the paddles and most importantly, the PEACE! Then sit back and watch how HIS strength carries you, not only through the storm, but ABOVE it!




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