Stormy Weather

Last weekend was jam-packed, and as of yesterday morning, this weekend was also shaping up to be another packed one, between a visit from my sister and her family on Saturday and an all-day missions team retreat on Sunday. With a forecast for strong thunderstorms (and possible tornadoes), yesterday my sister decided to keep the family at home in Georgia. While I would have enjoyed seeing my family today, I'm also grateful for this unexpected free day.

It looks like it will be stormy pretty much all day today. I was awakened around 3 this morning with some loud thunder, and although it's fairly calm here at the moment, I can hear faint rumbles of thunder and know that more severe weather is heading our way. It's a great day to stay at home, catch up on cleaning and laundry, and perhaps do some reading and just relaxing.

Sometimes stormy weather is good. It can cause us to slow down and rest. It can provide a chance to catch up on some things that have been neglected or pushed to the side for a while. That's true not only with thunderstorms, but with other storms that God allows into our lives. They may not be fun to go through, but everything--storms included--that God allows into our lives serve some purpose and are ultimately for our good.

I'm thankful that this stormy weather is reminding me that storms aren't necessarily bad for us--in fact, they can provide some unexpected benefits and opportunities that we might not get when things are bright and sunny.