As I was scrolling through these pictures it made me think of how thankful I am to now have a place of refuge to go to during a storm. Typically, we have waited it out in our neighbors storm shelter, which we have been very thankful for. It is easy to be thankful right now because we were protected then and now we are prepared for the next storm. I now have peace of mind knowing all we have to do is go down in our shelter and wait out the storm.
This line of thinking made me think about other storms in our lives. Often we are in the midst of chaos and we feel that we don’t have a place of refuge or safety to seek shelter. Or quite possibly we seek refuge in things that leave us more devastated than the storm we were in.
The process by which the storm shelter was installed was fascinating. They cut into the concrete, dug out the dirt, placed the unit properly, poured concrete, cleaned up, dumped the extra dirt out in our yard to be used at a later time. They had a system, a well executed plan. Just like God has a plan for our lives. If we let HIM, he will pierce our hearts, remove the dirt and sin, place a right spirit within us, make us whole again, and make something wonderful of the junk we went through. HE will be our refuge and protector.
I need to constantly remind myself of this. So, I thought it would be fitting to also share this reminder to my children with a simple verse from Isaiah 43:5 – “Do Not Be Afraid For I Am With You…” When life blows a storm our way I want to be able to say these words to my kids. I want to be able to say these words to my grandkids.
We wrote this verse in the concrete surrounding the storm shelter as our reminder for each time we face a storm – God is our refuge and strength.
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Proud to be born and raised an Oklahoman. I am a happily married, stay at home mom, who gets to work part time as a Personal Trainer. I am blessed beyond measure!
3 comments
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Jenny says:
February 28, 2012 at 5:07 pm (UTC 0)
I miss you Elizabeth. And I needed this post today.
Amy says:
February 28, 2012 at 2:04 pm (UTC 0)
Love this post. I am one to be prepared for storms and would love to have what you have in your garage. Awesome. Peace of mind through these mean storms. What a blessing. I also love the dirt pile play. Brings back so many memories. It is so fun to play and watch our kids play king of the mountain and slide down and get dirty. I love it. I love most of all though the lesson you taught your children and yourselves. God is our refuge and our strength and our PEACE. We are all so blessed to dwell in this Great Love of God. Blessings friend.
Robin says:
February 26, 2012 at 10:07 pm (UTC 0)
Great post – and I love that you put that scripture in the cement! The kids will remember that, even if you move.