Getaway weekends can be such an amazing blessing.  Sharing time with family, laughing, eating junk food, consuming too much coffee, staying up late talking, and then falling in bed, only to do it all over again the next day—these are memorable treasures.

Recently, we found ourselves doing just that as we traveled to a cabin located in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  When we first arrived, I took the tour, led by my tour guide, Clementine.  She narrated as we walked, going first downstairs to the game room and indoor pool, informing me that the code to the pool room was not mine to know, for her mommy had said so.  This little tour guide reminded me about the importance of keeping one’s promise through that simple action.

After the downstairs tour, we moved upstairs to the third floor, examining the sleeping rooms and open landing at the top of the stairs.  Clementine then instructed me on where she had determined every person was to sleep.  She had it all figured out, and truthfully, her plan was a solid one.

Finally, we descended the steps to reach the main landing:  the kitchen/living room combination, additional bedrooms, and a spacious outside back deck. After enjoying a breakfast feast, several of us found ourselves enjoying the Saturday, sitting in rocking chairs on that upper back deck.  The breeze of the mountain air could be felt across our skin.  Since the cabin had been constructed up in the mountains, positioned so the Great Smoky Mountains could be easily seen, the deck where we sat was situated VERY HIGH off the sloping ground.  Thus, I found myself fascinated by the treetops swaying back and forth as the breeze blew.

If one sits in nature long enough, the person begins to see comparisons and parallels found between nature and mankind.  Like trees, we have been created by a loving God, “planted” where He chooses for us to be born, and “strengthened” to grow, able to withstand some of the  breeze blowing against our skin:  career pressures, personal burdens, family circumstances, and life-situations that come.

Like trees, we grow.

Just as trees, we need to turn toward and lean into the Son.

& As we notice about trees, we need to sense God’s gentle breeze blowing against our “trunk” but remember how we will not be uprooted because we are His creation, His children, His redeemed ones.  This fact has been established because the psalmist calls us “all who fear God.”

Therefore, realize that storms will come, and maybe you are going through one right now.  We may sway and bend and feel as if the storm will break us, but with the Lord’s help, the storm will not.  Instead, the current storm trial is His Preparation—Making us stronger in our faith, helping us become more spiritually mature, and preparing us for a storm He sees in our future.

God sees our life from beginning to end.

As we walk with God through a present-day time of testing, He strengthens us for a stronger hurricane or tornado that only He can see in our future.

Therefore,

Thus, to do so, we must—

• Fix our minds on Jesus through meditation on His Word and through prayer.
• Surrender ourselves to Christ by relying on His power to navigate our way.

As we do, then we will experience great peace within & enjoy God’s loving presence & preparation for ALL the days of our lives.