September 16th

On September 16, 1980, my husband and I started for the city to go to the small business which we ran together. It was a day like any other with the same problems, frustrations, and blessings. By the time our twelve-year-old son was released from school that afternoon, my husband lay dead at my feet on our patio! A heart attack, sudden and fatal, had snuffed out his earthly life. That day I knew what it was to mount up with wings like an eagle.

The eagle, when faced with storm clouds and wind, does not battle his way through the storm, but sets his wings and allows the very storm winds, which would plunge him to earth if he depended upon his own strength, to lift him high, high above the storm. So it was that day.

I just let God take charge, and He did. He very literally set me upon my feet, saying to me audibly, “Jean, this part of your life is over.” Before I could imagine it, I was surrounded by people who cared for me and the business at hand … our pastor, our daughter-in-law, our neighbors, a dear Christian friend on the telephone when I called the ambulance, and her husband on the ambulance when it arrived, a very sympathetic deputy sheriff. When one of the ambulance crew, a warm woman, took my pulse, she proclaimed it ‘steady as a rock.’ How could that be? I marvel at it each time I recall those moments. Only God could have renewed my strength like that.

THE HARBOR
Incredible peace!
The tempest of frustrations,
Layered as storm clouds
Storied one atop the other,
Doth in one thought cease!
No stealing in of tranquil stream,
No advent of a wistful dream,
Just sudden calm,
Swifts complete cessation
Of circling thoughts in crowds
Dashing into one another.
One thought is the balm;
This the harbor of my soul …
God is always in control.

Prayer: Dear Lord, show me Your calm harbor and help me to steer into it each time a storm strikes.