The baby had been cranky all evening so I put her to bed early then I returned to the family room to find my husband and older children singing and dancing along with kids worship music on YouTube.  I joined in the fun!  Suddenly we heard a strange blast from our cell phones, a tornado warning for our area.  We switched on the TV and watched spellbound as the green, then yellow, then red crept closer and closer to us on the weather map.

My first thought was, “Great, and I just put the baby to bed.  Hopefully it won’t be as bad as it looks and we won’t have to disturb her and huddle in the bathroom.”  We could hear the winds picking up and my son’s anxiety was quickly climbing to panic mode.  We decided to pause and pray for safety and peace. Just then the tornado sirens blared outside our windows.  I told my husband that to make our son feel better he could go to the interior bathroom with the older kids and I would hang out in our bedroom where the baby was sleeping.  As we stood up to enact this plan the electricity went out.  We rushed to grab flashlights, and I quietly opened the door to my bedroom.  With three windows in my room, the noise of the storm raged even more loudly.  We do not have any trees within 75 feet of our house so when I heard branches scratching the window, I knew there was trouble.  I immediately snatched the baby out of her dreams and hurried to join the rest of the family in the tub.  To calm our nerves we sang songs of praise.

Just as quickly as it arrived, the storm subsided and we cautiously emerged from our shelter.  There in the grass outside my bedroom window was a giant tree limb that had flown from our neighbor’s yard and slammed into our house.  Yet because the leaf end of the branch was the part that made contact, our house and windows suffered zero damage.  I shudder to think that my precious baby and I were right next to that window when the branch struck.  We might have been covered in glass or much worse!

“LORD, help!” they cried in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. He calmed the storm to a whisper and stilled the waves.  What a blessing was that stillness as he brought them safely into harbor! Let them praise the LORD for his great love and for the wonderful things he has done for them.  Let them exalt him publicly before the congregation and before the leaders of the nation.” Psalm 107:28-32

All praise to God!  He kept us safe once again!

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