Hurricane Prayer

Where has the week gone??!  Been a busy one in some ways, slow and lazy in others.  Found a web site Monday, Hurricane Digital Memory Bank:  Preserving the Stories of Katrina, Rita and Wilma.  Was naturally intrigued.  Read, looked around and submitted my own Storm Stories to their achieve.  (If you weren't around Caneyhead last fall, you can read them all together and concise by clicking Storm Stories above.  To see all the wonderful comments, you'll have to read in my journal through the link on the side bar and the archives from Oct. 2005.)  While I was there I found a great aerial photo of our area, after Rita.  

      

Contributed by Kelly.  Object #1732, Hurricane Digital Memory Bank: Preserving the Stories of Katrina, Rita, and Wilma, 30 January 2006, <http://www.hurricanearchive.org/details.php?id=1732>

Those toothpicks are trees downed by Rita's winds.  Not tornadoes.  Notice how they all lay in one general direction.  The circular motion of the hurricane winds snapped them off 3-5 feet from the ground and laid them all down with their tops pointing southward.  Now you can finally see why my blood ran cold when I read the advisory that stated the huge percentage of trees that would fall.  We could often hear cracking and snapping through the wind, and the smell of pine was so strong you'd think Someone poured a tanker of Pine-Sol out.  (Click the link under the photo to go directly to it in a larger size.) 

All of this and hurrican season upon us again caused me to desire to post the beautiful prayer Trish forwarded to me right before Rita hit.  It did a lot to calm my heart, ease my mind and help me focus on God that night and not Rita.

O God, Master of this passing world, hear the humble voices of your children. The Sea of Galilee obeyed your order and returned to its former quietude; you are still the Master of land and sea. We live in the shadow of a danger over which we have no control. The Gulf, like a provoked and angry giant, can awake from its seeming lethargy, over step its conventional boundaries, invade our land and spread chaos and disaster. During this hurricane season, we turn to You, O loving Father. Spare us from past tragedies whose memories are still so vivid and whose wounds seem to refuse to heal with the passing of time. Father, all the elements of nature obey your command. Calm the storms and hurricanes that threaten us and turn our fear of your power into praise of your goodness. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Father God I am so very grateful that You are all knowing and all things have to submit to You. I pray Lord God for mercy for these in the hurricane areas. Father I pray that we as a nation of people will once again turn to You and say You are God!  Father I pray for good to come out of all this devastation. I pray for souls to be saved, I pray for spiritual health of this nation and the world. I pray we will lift Your name on high and put Jesus back on the throne instead of all our other gods we have tried to put on His throne.  May our people and our nation be healed and back under Your protection Father God. In Jesus name. I pray we completely surrender to You and spare ourselves from more destruction. Amen!

Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. Jeremiah 29:12

And for any of you who are going along with me on the Devotions on Marriage, I've been hovering over #5 all week.  It's about priorities, staying off the soap box, expressing contentment rather than criticism.  Realigning those priorities, keeping my feet on the floor, and biting my tongue until it's pulp.  ;o)  I'm sure these are never issues for you, but just in case.......here's the link:   5th Devotion on Marriage