How to Soar.

 The wind howls in this valley. For days and nights it has whistled against the windows, shook these walls. I awake to it, restless as it is. I ask the Lord how I can love the wind. I just want it to be still, to quiet. The howling wind embodies all that is not at peace, not at rest. The wind keeps me bracing for damage: our heavy patio table lifted over the deck railing, tossed down a full story below. Shingles loosen.

Anything not anchored down is striped away.  

Joplin winds tore away its town last May. Tore away my sister-in-law’s apartment, shredding walls, furniture and memories alike.

And I ask God again, how I can love the wind?  

¹⁰ “He found him [Jacob] in a desert land
And in the wasteland, a howling wilderness;
He encircled him, He instructed him,
He kept him as the apple of His eye.
¹¹ As an eagle stirs up its nest,
Hovers over its young,
Spreading out its wings, taking them up,
Carrying them on its wings,
¹² So the Lord alone led him.

Deuteronomy 32

 

His Word answers me. I do not love the wind. I cannot. I love Him. I cannot stop the wind, can’t fight against it. He alone stills it. He, who is not against me, but for me; He who brings peace, who quiets the storm— He controls the wind.

And so I will ride on the back of my God, soar on His wide-stretched wings. I will let my hair whip in the air, let it carry away my voice. 

 

I will remember that it was wind which parted the Red Sea, wind which dried up the flood waters. And I will listen for the still small voice that comes after the wind. I will be anchored in Him so the storm cannot uproot me. I am encircled.

Who has ascended into heaven, or descended?
Who has gathered the wind in His fists?
Who has bound the waters in a garment?
Who has established all the ends of the earth?
What is His name, and what is His Son’s name,
If you know?

Proverbs 30:4

I know His name. He knows my heart. And so this wind is nothing. It may howl on the outside, but inside there is peace. He is our peace, our calm, though nothing else is. With Him, I will soar on this wind.

Together in Grace,

Amy

 Matthew 14: ³⁰ But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”
³¹ And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” ³² And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

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