Well the power is off and I am going to start this post with about 45 minutes of battery left. It seems GOD had different plans for my life tonight than I had planned. I am sitting alone in the dark. There are three candles burning but the light is very dull. Funny the light from my laptop is bright and my typing here doesn’t seem any different than usual. Yikes, that tells me something. I get here bog in and barely notice whether the lights are on or not around me. Ok, since it is so quiet I realize how much I tune out the world with this thing in my hands. Next observation, I can hear the rain. Usually I love to hear nature all around me but tonight I actually hear the roar of the thunder and the steady beat of the rain outside. I can hear the wind whipping through the trees. If one hits this house I wonder how long it would be before someone finds my lifeless body lol. (added my own drama) … The peace is so serene though even in the storm out there. I enjoy taking it all in. Ty LORD for this little stop in the road to be reminded of your glory even in things I take for granted. That brings me to a place in the road. Taking God for granted. You know, I love the LORD and have grown so much these past 3 years but I still have to be aware that it’s a daily journey. It’s not Deb on autopilot. I have grown into many things but still have to count on the grace of God daily. There are times I have to repent, times I have to grieve, times I have to restore and be restored. There are hard times when a friend tells me truth in love and I don’t want to hear it and times I myself have to speak the same to them. It’s a normal Christian life, ups and downs , ins and outs, seasons coming and going like the storms and the weather patterns. Today is much different than any other day. Why? Not because I have arrived or have infinite wisdom. I am becoming wise but acknowledge it’s a process and some final healing may take place on the other side of glory. Either way I am progressing, growing, loving life out loud, happy, free, and hope to embrace the new mercies of GOD daily as promised in HIS WORD. Especially those harder times when HE sees fit to take me through the valley, walking beside me so that I can see HE is my Shepherd and I shall not want. I am thankful that GOD sees fit to be stable, the same yesterday, and today, and forever. I am tremendously thankful that he treats each of us individually, as shown in how he dealt with folks in the Bible. What variety and surprise and anticipation we can have knowing that GOD is going to by His own divine appointment reach into our lives and fashion things for our good and HIS glory. That leads you to be careful in defining good and glory. I didn’t say it would feel good I said it would be good for you. Sometimes restoration is painful kind of like a shot at the physician. They are necessary but all the while still painful. Then there is HIS glory, we have an imaginative God who is able to use foolish things to confound the wise. How He might redeem what the locust have eaten could be so different than what you might expect. Expect with anticipation that HE will though. As I finish this last paragraph the power came on. This storm brought me a moment of peace to reflect, to rejoice in exactly what a mighty loving Father we serve. Take time to realize where you are and how deep the love of Christ is for you today. Listen to the rain, let it wash you away.