The Valleys of Life

Please pray for the people of Oklahoma (as well as those from last week's storm in Missouri and other areas) that have lost loved ones, as well as physical blessings, because of the tornadoes.  We're in the southwest corner and were not affected by the storms last night, but our hearts are heavy for those who are suffering.

The Valleys Of Life

We love to have the mountaintop

Experiences of life

To be in God’s presence worshiping

Where our spirits soar so high

These times are to be treasured

For all that God would do

So we will be better equipped

For the valley we must go through

For it’s down in the valleys

Where we are surely tested

Where we need more of God’s grace

As we share the gospel message

Where God does a deeper work

Revealing our true selves

Removing all that’s not of Him

Like unbelief and doubt

So our lamps again can shine

Without the smudges of sin

To clearly reflect God’s light inside

That once was burning dim

So others can see the hope we have

And be drawn unto the light

So they too can come to know

The saving grace of Christ

© By M.S.Lowndes

(Used by permission from http://www.heavensinspirations.com/)

Hey, It's FREE!

See that little bitty flat screen TV???  It looks a little out of place on the entertainment center, doesn't it?  Well, that is our free TV that my hubby won last year in a drawing at our pharmacy (If you read the post from then, you'll find out that it was a drawing he didn't even know he entered!). 

Since early fall, the TV has just been sitting in our room in the box.  I kind of wanted it in our room, but he didn't really.  We're not big TV fans and don't want to divide the family between rooms.  We thought about donating it to a club (PTO, 4-H) as a fundraiser, but just hung on to it.

It's a good thing!  This afternoon a storm popped up quickly to the south of us.  The lightening was fierce.  The kids and I suddenly heard a loud POP!  Out went the electricity.  My husband was still at work, but the kids and I gathered a few things and unhooked the garage to raise it manually.  We rode around for a bit and my husband came home where he was met by an electrician.  He found that the light pole breaker was burned up on our property and it caused quite a bit of damage - our bigger TV (seen below) is gone, the internet router is burned up; home line phones - gone; wireless router - gone; a few lamps - gone; an undecorated, but still up mini Christmas/Easter tree lights - gone, and lots of blown out light bulbs.  Thankfully the computers and all other appliances are all okay.

We're thankful that nothing worse happened.  The POP was so loud, I really thought something might catch on fire, but it didn't. A few neighbors around us had some trouble, too.  The little TV kind of looks out of place, but it will work for a while.  Our long distance/internet provider even sent someone over immediately to help fix the problem.  He helped hook up the little bitty free TV, too!  What great customer service and we were able to see the end of the winning Ranger's game.

Tonight we had singing night during our mid-week worship.  As we sang praises to God, I couldn't help but think of His power and might - within the storms and lightening.  It's an awesome thing, really.

Tornadoes, Floods, and Other Warnings

All day today there was an uneasy feeling in the air. It was hot, humid and extremely windy. Weathermen across Oklahoma announced that the threat of severe weather was imminent. They had predicted it since last week. And now, several hours later, their predictions were correct....extremely correct. Almost 30 tornadoes ripped through the north-mid to east sections of our state. Sadly, it's being reported that four or five have lost their lives in these storms. The devastation is horrible. People are without their homes and businesses.  Many are waiting to hear from their loved ones to make sure they are safe and unharmed.

With all of the radar information in today's world, warnings for these storms were given well in advance. Just think of the difference in casualties there would be if there hadn't been an early warning given. It's a grim thought, isn't it?

Now take your mind back to thousands of years ago and think about the great flood of Noah's time, as told in Genesis 6-9. God warned Noah of what he was about to do. He told Noah what he needed to do to be prepared and Noah did as he was commanded. Sadly, apparently no one else around - except for Noah and his family - cared why Noah happened to building a big huge ark. If they did wonder, maybe they just thought he was crazy. We aren't told what the people thought or what they might have said.  We can imagine, but the Bible doesn't say.  All we know is that God was not pleased with the people.

The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them." Genesis 5:5-7

Noah was warned by God in advance of the flood, but those who lost their lives were not.  But, even if there had been flood warnings given back in Noah's time, as they were given today with the terrible tornadoes, it would be safe to assume the wicked people would not have paid any attention to the warnings.  Sadly, it seems that those people were living only for themselves, without any concern for their spiritual souls.  They were living their lives without God.  Other warnings were given in the Bible about impending destruction - in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, the coming of the famine in Egypt, the Israelites about the killing of the firstborn, and the wicked people of Ninevah.

Matthew 24:38-39 warns us of the return of Jesus someday.  We know He is coming back, but we don't know when.  The warning has been issued without date or time.  In fact, as Christians, one of our main goals is to get this word out to others - to seek and safe the lost before that time comes. 

"For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.

"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. "

Being ready and prepared for storms is very important. Staying safe during the storm is also very important.  We must be careful and listen for those warnings.  But, even more important, is heeding the warning of being prepared when our Savior Jesus Christ returns to this earth to accomplish God's ending and the final chapter of His ultimate plan.

"Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man." Luke 21:36

On this Gratituesday, I am grateful for the warnings we have for storms, but I am even more grateful for the warning from God and His desire that we should all come to know Him before it is too late. 

To see what others are grateful for, visit Heavenly Homemakers Gratituesday edition.

Surviving Without Power

The phrase, "You never know what you've got until it's gone," has become very apparent to those of us in western/southwestern Oklahoma this past week.  God has blessed us abundantly in so many ways and one of those blessings is electricity.  And we are all thankful to have it and the modern conveniences it provides.

My own family lives in a total electric house.  We have no gas at all, so even our water was cold during the power outage.  Thankfully we do have a wood-burning fireplace.  We hadn't used it before, even though we've lived here for 10 1/2 years.  We never had because of the irritant it seems to be with those with asthma, and our three boys and myself all have asthma.  It didn't bother anyone until the last few days.  The two youngest began having trouble and had to be given a steroid and began breathing treatments a few days ago, but they'll be fine.  We're still thankful we had the fireplace and for the warmth it provided during the power outage.

The fireplace also provided a place to warm up hot water for hot chocolate, a place to roast weiners and marshmallows, and a way to heat up other food items, as well.  We ate lots of S'mores last week!

We also cooked on the outside gas grill and found another interesting way to cook - using candles in the oven!  I saw this idea in the Lawton, OK newspaper and thought it was great!  Thankfully I have several handed-down old pots and pans, so I used those for the fire-related cooking and didn't mess up my better cookware/bakeware. 

I had lots of little votive candles left over from previous decorating events.  They rested in a mini muffin tin and heated up food splendidly! (Keep the oven vented a little bit.  I stuck a knife in the edge to keep it open slightly.) My sister-in-law liked this idea and used it, too.  We played games one afternoon at their house as she heated up dinner.  We began to smell it soon and she said, "I guess my burners are too hot.  I guess I'd better blow one out!"  If you cook by candle, maybe you should think of one candle as "low heat", two as "medium heat" and so on!

Candlelight dinners are usually thought of as being romantic, but last week it was just another sign of "survival mode"!  I wrote about this wrote dinner on our family recipe blog.  You can read about that recipe here.  This was our favorite dinner of the whole "no power" week!

Keeping warm was the major concern during the week.  As I'm sure everyone else around here did, we bundled up in layers and layers of clothing and sported hoodies, hats, and gloves in the house to keep warm. We wore our ski socks and two pairs at a time. We slept with layers of blankets, quilts, and comforters. We also made a game out of using a small, portable thermometer and taking it to different areas of the house to find out the temperature.  In our bedrooms it stayed 39 degrees F.  In the seating near the fireplace it would get to 60-63 degrees F, so of course that's where we stayed most of the time.  We had fun moving the thermometer from one end of our long dining room table to the other end, which resulted in a 6 degree difference in temperature!

Surviving without power was difficult, but possible.  God gave us the strength to get through the crisis and we thank Him for that and for all of the blessings He gives us so abundantly.  Surviving without God and Jesus is impossible.  Many try, but it will never work.

We are thankful for all who worked so hard to repair the broken electrical poles and wires.  They worked and continue to work tirelessly long hours to help others and for that we are grateful.  Remember them in your prayers.  Pray for God to continue to strengthen them.  Pray for their families, as well.  They have many hours ahead of them.

We are thankful to all who cared for others during this time.  Many opened their homes, shared their food, and checked on friends, family, and neighbors to make sure they were warm and fed.

And, as strange as it may seem, we can be thankful for the storm.  Although it caused many problems, it also brought many blessings.  For a time everything in our normal life stopped.  We lived the way my great-grandparents lived - without TV, without computers and internet, without deadlines and appointments and schedules, and without daily ball games/school events.  But, we had family meals around the table.  We had worship in homes. We had game days and game nights filled with lots of laughs and talking.  We took the time to call and check on others and care for others.  We took the time to do things that were really important and that too many times we become too busy to do when life is back to normal.

Surviving without power.  We did it with God.  We did it together.

Have you survived a weather-related crisis?  How did you cope?  What did you do?  Do you have any tips for survival and for getting by?  I would love to hear how you did it and look forward to hearing from you!

2010 Ice Storm - What a Week!

One week ago today Oklahoma was hearing of bad weather coming to our area.  None of us knew what the next few days would bring.

Freezing rain, sleet, snow, and falling temperatures were expected all day that day and came with a vengeance.

 Early in the day many southwest Oklahoma schools canceled classes.  Soon ice began to collect on roads, trees, and highline wires.  Little by little tens of thousands of people lost their electricity.

Our small town was without electricity for five days and six and a half hours.  Many are still without it in surrounding towns - including my parents.  Many of these pictures are actually from Altus, Oklahoma, where they live. We didn't get the destructive ice - just a coating of ice - but it's easy to see why there was so much damage to electrical lines.  My pictures of the lines on the ground were blurry, but there are thousands of electrical poles having to be replaced.

I don't think I've ever seen a chain link fence coated in ice.  Not all of this is solid, but much of it is.  An amazing sight!

The pecans were coats on this broken branch in my parent's front circular drive.

The small field on the side of our house always fills with water, but this time it was an ice-covered pond.  The boys thought it was fun!

The river west of town.

I am anxious to see if this tree makes it.  It may be standing straight up now!  This is in Altus.

Even though it was very destructive, the ice on the trees was beautiful.  It actually looked like a war zone and certainly does now that the ice has melted.

Clean-up and electrical crews are everywhere doing whatever needs to be done to restore power and clean up the neighboring towns (This is Altus again).

Thankfully our school is back in session today.  Our children weren't necessarily ready to go back after having five days off!  Many schools are still closed and some have already closed for tomorrow, as well.

I'll write more about "Surviving Without Electricity" and have more inspirational thoughts about the storm in the next few days.  But for now I just wanted to share some of the amazing pictures. Thank you for your prayers.  Continue to pray for those without power and who are working to restore power for others.  It's raining today, so it's sure to make their job even tougher.

ICE STORM!!!!

Well, if you've missed me, I'm sorry!  We haven't had electricity since Thursday.  The kids haven't had school since last Wednesday.

Right now our family has driven to Lawton, OK, to eat at the mall and just get away and thankfully we were able to connect to the internet to do a little looking at what is happening outside of our "bubble" in southwest Oklahoma.

It's not looking too promising for us to have power anytime soon.  Tens of thousands (or more) are without power and crews from all over have been sent to our area to help restore the power as quick as possible.  Please pray for all of those who are working so hard - for their safety and strength.

My family is keeping warm by our fireplace and we are cooking on our grill outside and with candles in the oven.  Our house is total electric, so no gas appliances or heat.

This is quick, but just wanted to touch base in case anyone was wondering.  I've got lots of pictures to show when we've got power again!

When the Storm Hits

A NORVELL NOTE is written by Tom Norvell.  This post entitled, "When the Storm Hits" is being used by permission.

When the Storm Hits

What do you do when the storm hits?

You’re feeling fine, but then your doctor calls you with the results of your blood work. She says, “I’d like for you to come into my office. We’ve found some things we should talk about?”

You think everything is going well with your children. Everything you hear is that they behave themselves when they are away from you and you’ve always gotten good reports from their teachers and other adults. But, one day you get a call from the school Principal informing you that your son is in his office and is in pretty serious trouble.

You knew things were not perfect with your marriage, but compared to others you felt pretty good. You don’t argue much. You’ve just had a good family vacation. Then, one morning as your husband is getting ready for work you notice a suitcase by the door. You ask about it. He says, “I’m leaving. I just don’t want to do this any more.”

You have heard about other families having problems, but your parents have always “gotten along” and you assumed they had a good marriage. But, when you come home from school you find your mother sitting at the kitchen table crying, holding a letter to you from your Dad. Cautiously you open it and begin reading: “I know this is probably hard for you to understand, but I don’t love your mother any more, and I’m tired of playing the game. I want you to know that what is happening with your mother and I is not your fault, and I will always be here for you. I love you very much, but I need a change.”

Work has been a little slow lately but nothing major. Compared to other companies you had faired well. You had managed the economic downturn very well. At least that’s what you thought. Then you see your boss walking toward your office. He walks in and closes the door. He begins by saying, “Joe, I hate to have to do this, but…” You hear nothing after that.

What do you do when the storm hits?

You feel every emotion imaginable and at the same time you feel nothing. You are stunned. You are shocked. You are hurt. You are angry. You are afraid. You are confused. You feel desperate. What do you do when the storm hits?

One night when Jesus and His disciples were on a boat a storm hit them without warning. This is how Matthew describes the scene:

Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!"

He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

The men were amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!" (Matthew 8:23-29, NIV)

The disciples were afraid because of the storm and confused because it seemed that Jesus was unconcerned about them. Although Jesus rebukes them a bit for their lack of faith, at least they knew what to do when the storm hit. They went to Jesus. Obviously they did not know what He would do, or what He could do, but knew they needed to wake Him.

Perhaps that is the message for us when the storm hits…go to Jesus. Go to the One who can calm the storm. Go to the One who is not afraid of the storm. When the storm hits, go to Jesus.

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