It's Raining, It's Pouring

I just absolutely LOVE the rain! I woke up this morning to the sounds of thunder and lightning. Shortly after that came the downpour. Thankfully, the girls had already gotten on their buses and were off to school before the rain started.

I don't know what I like so much about rainstorms. It's actually kind of surprising that I like them at all because the storms used to scare me as a child.

Anytime it would rain with lightning and thunder, I would wake up and want to go to my parents' bedroom. Now, most kids would just run to the bedroom and jump in the bed with their parents. Not me. First, I would carry my sister (whom I shared a room with) into Mom and Dad's room and put her on a blanket on the floor. Then, I would get my 2 brothers, one by one, and bring them into the room. Finally, after I had moved the whole family into one room, I would lay down on the blanket with my siblings and go back to sleep.

I'm not sure what I was so afraid of. It might have been the loud sound of the thunder or the way the whole room would light up from the lightning. Sometimes, the electricity would go out and I would get really scared because it would be so dark in the house. We slept with several nightlights spread throughout the house, so it was only pitch dark if the electricity was out. Whatever the reason, I felt safest if the whole family was together in one room.

Now that I'm a mom myself, I don't have my parents' room to run to when I get scared. I'm the parent that my kids run to when they're scared. Lucky for me, none of them wake up the whole family and move them to one room like I did. But what am I to do if I am the one who becomes afraid? From time to time, I allow fear to take hold of me and I wish that I had a parents' room to run to.

We all face different types of storms in our lives. Many times, the thunder and lightning can scare us. I'm sure we have all wished for a room to run to in those fearful moments. The thing is, fear can only hurt us if we allow it to hurt us. In reality, it can't really hurt us at all. It can make us physically sick or cause us to lose focus on what's really important, but fear itself is powerless. God's Word says that perfect love cast out all fear. And it's really as simple as that.

If we stay in the presence of God's love, there is no place for fear to come in. It's like being in my parents' bedroom. I felt completely safe in that room, so the fear was gone. In the bedroom of God's love there is no room for fear. It's where we can go to stay focused on Him and surrender all of the storms of life to His power. By doing so, those storms are powerless. Fear is powerless.

As I listen to the rain outside, I thank you God for your love that casts out my fears. I am thankful that You have shown me that fear cannot hurt me. I am thankful that you will carry me through the storms of life. The thunder will come. The lightning will come. The electricity might go out. But your bedroom will always be there when I need a place to run to.