Perspectives

The snow storm of 2021 will be one that will be remembered by Texans for years to come. Never in my lifetime has there been such an amount of snow nor such a duration of it in the Lonestar state. Somehow, my husband and I avoided much of it, however. My mother-in-law comes out here from Alabama every year to spend two or three months with us during the holidays. The weekend that the storm was to begin was the weekend we would be driving her back to Alabama.

I would love to say that misery of any sort avoided us but that is not the case. The weather caused us to make a decision to go back to Alabama the most southern route which is longer than the more northern route. We also had the dogs with us, just in case the snow was as bad as they were saying, so that my son would not be obligated to try to drive to our house to feed them while we were gone. The entire trip to Alabama took 17 hours. My legs were cramped with about an inch to maneuver in any direction. About two hours out from the end of our trip, my stomach started having that not quite right feeling.

Upon arrival to my Mother-in-law’s house, I began feeling nauseated. We also realized that her heat was not working when we got there. It was a mere 42 degrees. Sure enough I realized I had a stomach virus. One which requires a commode and a bucket. I’m sure as you read this there has been some time in your life that you could relate.

As I sat there freezing and in misery, I looked up on the bathroom counter. There was a devotional open to a page and the title on it read, “Look What God Has Done”. My initial thoughts were, satan is taunting me in my misery. I also thought, how much like him it would be to be doing so. Of course, I knew the article wasn’t anything like what popped into my head, but I was too sick to read what it truly was about. I will admit, I was letting the circumstances drive my thought processes as I sat there.

It took twenty-four hours for the bug to go away. My husband’s Mom came down with it the next day, and then the next day the virus thought my husband would be a nice host to live within. Thankfully, before my husband came down with it, someone came to repair the heater. Just as things were looking up, snow came to Alabama. It stayed there about as long as snow usually stays in Texas which was one day.

I had planned to visit my family while I was there and got to do so briefly. I was not happy that I didn’t get to spend more time with them but I was not going to share the virus. The Corona virus interfered with a visit during Thanksgiving, so I was hoping to make up for some lost time.

Prior to our leaving Texas, I was very apprehensive about the trip. I felt like we were pushing the trip at a time when we shouldn’t have because of all of the news regarding the weather. I felt like it was going to be more stressful than usual and I really didn’t want to go. Honestly, I felt like all of the craziness of this last year was just a bit much to bear. I had a mild come apart prior to going but my husband really wanted me to go and so I did.

As I sat in the bathroom I was thinking about how I shouldn’t have come because the trip proved to be even more crazy than I had even imagined. The next morning, I even told my sister that I had almost backed out and how stressed I felt prior to our leaving. She had made the comment of how we should listen to our feelings.

Though I didn’t say anything back, the statement didn’t sit well with me because as I grow in my walk with Christ, I have been learning that my feelings are not trustworthy in many cases. I still live in this earthly body that influences my feelings in so many ways and not all of them are in good ways. I have been learning more and more with each day that the only feelings I can really rely on are those truths that God wrote into His Word.

For two days I did not get to read or pray to the extent that I normally do because I was just too sick to read. I prayed in bed which I do many times when things aren’t normal but it really isn’t quite the same as it is when you pray and then read God’s sweet love letter to listen for what He has to say back. Needless, to say, when I did resume, God was right there. Into my mind flooded all of the truths about what would have been if I had stayed home and relied on those feelings.

Our power went out early on in the week long storm. Our water outage started shortly after that. It was as if God were saying, “oh my whining little Amy, I know circumstances weren’t easy on this trip, but can you imagine having a virus at your home where there was not any power or water? I let my mind encircle that vision. It would have been horrifyingly gross. It would have been many more days of freezing than that of just one day and night. Yes, the fact still remained that we were sick. The fact still remained that her power was off and it was freezing. The fact still remained that the virus interfered with my visit once again. The fact still remained that our four days there would turn into a week before we could go home. The circumstances were still the same. However, as I was listening to God in that moment, the words popped into my mind, “see what God HAS done.” I just needed to see things with the right perspective–God’s perspective.