A friend recently posed a question online asking about the
response “God is Good” when speaking about what they were spared from in
Hurricane Irma, when there were people in the islands and other places that
were not as lucky….
I answered my friend with a basic answer, that I believe
most people use that as an expression that might be the same as saying “Thank
goodness” about something, that it’s just an expression of gratitude that
things weren’t as bad as they could be, and it really doesn’t have anything to
do with what others might have experienced.
But there really is much more to say, I just needed time to figure out
how to put into words what I just know in my heart.
As is the usual case with me, I think much more deeply about
these kinds of questions than I think people are asking, so I thought I’d use
my blog to put down my thoughts rather than taking over someone’s post.
First, of all, God is good.
God is the embodiment of love, and he loves each and every one of us
whether we choose to love him back or not, even if we don’t believe in him. Believing in him does not give us a monopoly
on him. He doesn’t love us more for
having faith or for being obedient, he loves us all the same. That is what the whole parable of the
Prodigal Son is about. (Luke 15:11–32,
if you would like to read it, just Google if you don’t have a bible.)
God never promised any of us a life
without annoyances, bad things, or even tragedies. He is not a helicopter parent, he doesn’t put
a bubble around us because we believe in him. Rather, he is one that gives us freedom to
choose what we think and what we believe, and lets us do things on our
own. He is always there to guide, but he
does not control, he is the parent that many of us strive to be. He doesn’t magically whisk us out of the path
of a storm with a snap of his fingers, but he will give us the wisdom to know
what we should do if we are to choose to listen. All of this, this is what is referred to as “free
will” in the circle of believers.
Now, this is where it can get
difficult for people, both for believers and unbelievers. His idea of what is best is not always what
our idea is. We often get caught up in
expecting God to do things in a particular way, but we are not in control of
God. I do believe he has the supreme
knowledge, so when he disagrees with me, as much as it sometimes pains me
because I’m quite a stubborn woman, I do try to listen and to understand his
reasons.
So, back to the storm.
I would very much prefer that no hurricane
ever come my way. Ever. I have prayed asking that they don’t, but,
well, that doesn’t really work. A storm,
it has to go somewhere. I have learned,
however, to pray for comfort, and that is a prayer that has been granted. I’ve had a lot of bad things happen in my
life, from growing up in an alcoholic home to sexual abuse to rape to almost
losing my child at birth to divorce to dealing with a child’s disabilities, and
that is just the big things. God has
ALWAYS been there to comfort me, even when I sat under the kitchen table crying
quietly so no one would realize I was there when my dad was throwing things
around in an alcoholic rage, God was sitting there holding my hand. He held my hand through this storm too, and
because of that, I was able to hold other’s.
Bear with me while I tell my own
little parable.
Once upon a time, when my son was a
baby and colicky and never let me sleep, my 11 year old dog, who WAS my baby
till then and was who I talked to and vented to and who was always there for me,
died. I was very upset, and I did pray
for comfort. To try to help me feel better, my husband took me to his mom’s
neighbor, whose barn cat just had kittens that were being given away. Though I did not really think a cat could
replace my beloved dog, I took a look at them.
I sat on the ground for quite a while, seeing what cat would interact
and trying to figure out if any of them could somehow fill the void I was
feeling. The owner of the cats, after a
while, she said “You know what, I have the perfect kitten for you. Wait right here.” She went inside and came out with a
calico. “I was going to keep her for
myself, but something is telling me this is the cat for you.”
God is good, meaning I am thankful he created this woman who felt I needed this cat.
That cat, she is my 16 year old
Ally, who some of my Facebook friends after my posts during the hurricane now
refer to as “Weather Cat” or “Tier 8.”
She could never replace my dog, but she has an equal special place in my
heart.
That cat, she saved my life and the
life of my son 13 years ago, during one of our normal every day Florida
thunderstorms, when one of my huge oak trees came down through my house. To make a long story short, she made a hideous
noise at me and ran, which made me follow her, and seconds later the tree came
down exactly where I had been standing, holding my then 3 year old son.
God is good, meaning I am thankful he created this cat to give me the warning.
Since then, she has been my weather
guide. During this hurricane, she remained calm the entire time, whereas she
WILL freak out if there is any impending danger, such as about a year or so ago
when what may have been a small tornado during a thunderstorm mangled the
basketball hoop in our front yard, or when our house got struck by lightning a
few months after that (during which I paid no attention and got struck washing
dishes). She is what God gave me to give
me my comfort. And, funny, my silly
posts about her on Facebook during the storm, I have found out later gave some
others comfort too.
And my comfort, it was what God
gave my family to give them comfort.
While my mom, husband, and son were glued to the newscasts of the
hurricane and were feeling stressed, Weather Cat and I were calmly watching a
football game in the other room. I said “Ally is calm, I’m calm.” I'm the one with anxiety disorder, so this is something! Everyone came
in periodically to sit down a few minutes with us and get their calm too. As the hurricane was passing over us, my mom
was sound asleep, my son was able to laugh that she was missing all the fun and
he was asleep about 30 minutes later, and my husband, who was sure he would be
up all night, followed shortly. While we
weren’t spared the storm passing over us, God did hold our hands.
And so, yes, God is good. I would still be grateful for that even if
the roof had blown off our house or we lost all that we had. It filled my heart when my son said “Well, if
we get a bunch of damage, we can get insurance money and fix it up and get more
money when we sell it,” because he was able to get past the fear and find a
silver lining. My husband realized that
he is willing to part with a heck of a lot of things in the garage, that they
are just meaningless possessions. THAT is what God does for us, he gives us
hope, he lets us see the positive, he lets us see what is important. He tries to let us see the bigger picture, to see how everything affects something else, and to see how good can always prevail.
As far as the material things that
were lost in the islands, I pray that God can give people comfort and hope and
that they will find that their lives are still as precious as good as they were
when they had those things, and that they can get help for necessities and
rebuilding quickly, as he lays it in the hearts of others to assist. As far as deaths that occurred, death is
always a hard thing to deal with. I am
not going to say that death is good, but I will say that the number of deaths
that occurred was infinitesimally small compared to the number of people who
were in the path of the storm, and THAT is good thing. I will also say that several people close to
me have died in my adult life. From each
of those deaths, I can tell you something good that came from it, as strange as
that may sound, and I can only hope that those people are able to smile down
from Heaven to see the way they have positively affected the lives of others.
I’m not God, and I really don’t
have all the answers, but I do hope he helps fill in the blanks in my mind over
time.
That’s why they have wine. If only I knew someone who could turn this
supply of hurricane water into it…
