Cotton Balls in the Sky

Last summer, about 3 days after I returned from my month long trip to Ghana, West Africa, I found myself laying under a sky filled with strange looking clouds....clouds that looked like cotton balls.  While I was away in Africa, numerous tornadoes had ripped through the area surrounding my home, leaving many homes destroyed.  The tornado siren sounded again that day in the distance-- a warning to get inside, to go somewhere safe.....
....so of course, my siblings and I went outside and crossed the bright green grass and headed out behind the barn by the garden that was teeming with vegetables.  Carl, Laura, Caleb and I lay underneath the cotton ball clouds and looked up at the sky.  The darkening sky overhead started to rumble, and spidering lightening began to peek out from underneath the cotton ball clouds.  The wind began to pick up and some hay from the cows feed trough sprinkled our faces as we stared up at the light show in the sky.
At that moment, we were not afraid.  We knew that a tornado was very possible.  Carl, Lo, and Clabe had just seen the destruction that had happened all around us in the previous week.  Instead, we lay under the ominous sky and marveled at the power and majesty of our Heavenly Father.  A Creator and God who holds the whole world in the palm of His hands.  A God who knows each one of us and who has a beautiful plan for our lives.  We stared at the sky and knew that God was bigger than the storm that was about to come.  We looked at the lightening flashing across the sky and saw that God's Love and Truth shine even brighter than the beams overhead.  We felt the wind move against our faces and felt Gods presence, His comfort, His might. We prayed to God, asking that He would keep us safe.  That He would protect our family and our farm.  We prayed with confidence and boldness, knowing with full assurance that the God who knows us and created us and loves us had power over this storm.
I forget so easily how powerful the God I serve is.  I am so quick to try and fix problems on my own, so quick to give in and let stress and fear and uncertainty plague my thoughts and my decision making. I want to lie underneath a cotton ball sky every day and marvel at God's might.  His sovereignty.  His comfort.  His presence.

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."
Deuteronomy 31:6