Notes of Hope in times of turmoil

Lord, where are You when natural disasters happen?

The same place I Am when personal disasters happen, like the death of someone you love. I am right there in the midst.

Lord, but I feel like Martha and Mary: “If You had only been here, this would not have happened.” I can’t reconcile You saying You are present with the destruction a storm like Harvey brings, with the widespread damage. If You don’t cause it, can’t You intervene to prevent it, or to minimize the damage?

What happened in the Martha and Mary story?

Lazarus died. They thought You abandoned them. You did, actually—I mean, the story says You deliberately waited. You didn’t go.

And then what happened?

Well, then You came, and they were so upset, all that grief.

And then?

Well, then, the Miracle. You raised Lazarus. You had them roll away the stone and You called him back to life.

I could have healed Lazarus, as I had healed so many others, but that would have limited Me in their eyes. Instead, I showed Myself as Lord of Life, Lord over Death, so they would never have to fear death again, not for Lazarus, not for themselves. I gave them greater joy and greater freedom.

Yes, okay, but how does this relate to, say, this hurricane? Or to people who do die?

I AM the Lord of Life. I can—I do—bring Life out of Death. After a devastating loss, the Resurrection that has to happen is in you. In the one who remains behind.

I Am still Lord over Texas. I am working miracles you will never hear of, greater miracles even than preventing landfall.  I am reuniting families and communities. I did not cause this destruction but I am willing to use it, to turn it to bring about good, much good that would otherwise never have been. I make all things New. Learn the Butterfly lesson. Renewal—freshness—newness, that is Who I Am, that is what I do. Let Me do this in you as well—body and spirit and mind.