On Sunday, September 10, 2017, hurricane Irma ripped through the city of Jacksonville, Florida. This was a massive, category 5 hurricane at the onset and as it made landfall in Cudjoe Keys, FL it abated somewhat to a category 4 system. It worked its way north from southern Florida, tearing homes, boats and automobiles to shreds before making its’ way to where we reside in Northeast FL. I made the decision to ride this monster of a storm out at home since most of the weather reports that came in stated it should be a category 1 or even a mere tropical storm by the time it reached my city. Although its strength diminished, it was still a nasty storm. As a former resident of Brooklyn, NY I surmised a tropical storm was not worth the effort to evacuate my home.
I was in our condo on the highest floor and didn’t realize the enormity of a hurricane until I was dead center in the middle of it. I was not so confident at that point that I’d made the right choice to ride out the storm but I was at the point of no return. At its height, the howling winds seemed to be like a woman screaming, the gusts of wind pounding on my windows literally sounded like thunder. As the roof of the building creaked and I witnessed the lights in our home flicker several times, this rapidly became an experience I will not soon forget.
My apprehension of whether the windows would hold up forced me to find refuge in my walk-in closet. As I sat there armed with a flashlight, my dying cell phone and a battery operated radio, God began to speak to me. In the midst of my nervous courage, I cried out to the Lord. As I did, the Holy Ghost said, “there is peace in the midst of your storm”. As this revelation came to me, I wasn’t fully convinced at all but the Lord revealed even more to me. I realized that as I prayed and sought God about my condition, He was reminding me that in any storm we encounter in our lives we must not hesitate to seek Him in the middle of it.
Yes, the middle!
Right there where the heat of the battle is most intense, God is waiting for us there. I began to heave a huge sigh of relief when I recalled the scripture in Hebrews 13:5 “I will never leave you or forsake you” The hurricane continued to pound our building along with the entire city, but a calm washed over me as I began to talk to the Father in my “prayer closet”.
The core of a hurricane is where the calm is!
What I gleaned from this reminder in my most unusual situation is that if we just take our issues to the Father, we can find peace and comfort. However, we must do so in the center the nucleolus of the storm. In the eye is where God grants us peace and renews our faith while assuring us He is never slack to fulfill His promises! The heart of the calamity is where God is waiting for us to fall on Him so that He may supply whatever need we have to overcome the worst situations that present themselves in our lives. We don’t have to fear, panic, stress out nor do we need to resort to unGodly methods for answers. All we need to do is fall on our faces, get out of our carnality and set our faces toward the Lord. There is no need for a child of God to be nervous, unsure or faithless. We can seek God and He will show up to remind us that He is never slack in responding to our needs.
