The Storms We Miss

I told you a bit of this story yesterday, but God has been turning it into a lesson of sorts in my heart, so I wanted to share more of it with you today.


The drive from home to my speaking engagement on Saturday was just over an hour long, and for most of my drive, I talked to my mom on the phone. She kept pausing our conversation to tell me about the rain pouring over their home. I kept one eye in my rearview mirror and could see darker skies behind me, but the area above me was blissfully clear.

The weather in Ohio stayed beautiful throughout the lunch I shared with the ladies, and shortly before I got up to speak, I noticed rain falling outside the church windows. It fell harder, and the skies grew darker, and when I made my way to the podium at the front of the church and looked through the huge glass doors at the back of the church, a true storm had begun to rage.

I giggled nervously and confessed to the sea of ladies before me that I really didn't like storms...and if it got really bad and I dove under the altar...just to ignore me. I gripped the podium and launched into my speech, trying to keep my gaze inside the building and not outside.

I wore a lapel mic, and about halfway through my speech, it sparked and popped, and a moment later, a clap of thunder sounded over the church. I pushed ahead, even though the popping happened twice more, and I probably spoke faster in an attempt to get through the meat of the talk before the power went out or I got electrocuted.

By the time I finished talking, the storm had passed, and I talked with some of the ladies before walking out to my car and driving back home.

Right before I got up to speak, I'd gotten a weather alert text from home urging people to be safe in the wake of damaging winds in the area. I was thankful the winds hadn't blown so hard over the little church where I spoke and that I never encountered that particular storm as I navigated my way home through construction.

When I arrived at home, our grass was soaked, our plants watered, and a few small branches littered the backyard, proof of either a storm or a really fat squirrel.

But when we made our way through campus the next day, we saw a different view.

Amazingly, no significant damage done to that building, but what struck me most was this: The whole time I spoke, I was nervous about the storm outside, and racing to pray my way through my speech. And God was gracious to keep me calm as I spoke. But I had no idea, that entire time, the storm He protected me from even experiencing. It was a day I could have been home, hiding in the house as those winds swept over. Instead, I was miles from home, in a lesser storm, protected and safe as I served.

What a great reminder that the same is true of my life. While I've struggled through my share of storms, I have had no idea the storms He's protected me from....