This Too Shall Pass

We woke up today to -28 degree weather with a -58 windchill.  Yes, that is correct.  No typo....it is that cold here in northern Iowa.  So cold that not only are all schools and colleges closed, but mail delivery has been suspended in our state and surrounding states as well.  This is as bad as it gets.  Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois have declared states of emergency......This is record breaking cold.  Joel and I cannot remember -58 wind chills, ever.  And we have a few memories of cold weather over the years!

Like when we went to Malta Montana for Internship and woke up to -30 in late October.  We quickly discovered there were no heat vents in the small kids bedroom so we went to a local hardware store and purchased electric wall heaters!  Montana has some cold winters!  Or when our middle daughter was married on Epiphany in north central Minnesota and the actual temperature that evening was -37.  Yeah.  Cold.  But -58 is a new one.

Nature has a way of stopping our world from moving forward, and extreme cold is no exemption.  So grateful for our warm house, good furnace, and gas fireplace.  As we sit this morning reading in the quiet (our cable is experiencing an "outage") we are nice and warm, snuggled in under quilts and staring at a toasty fire.  We have soup to warm our stomachs and books to warm our souls.  We are blessed.

I think of the firefighters who brave the cold.........our police officers who still work to keep our cities safe.............emergency workers and more.  At risk for those who are at risk or risky.  Again, we are so blessed.

Sometimes life also throws things at us that seem to stop our world from moving forward.  I read today of the death of a friend's brother.  His long battle with cancer is over and he is with Jesus this day, but those left behind feel his loss greatly.  Another woman I know was recently diagnosed with an aggressive cancer, and her world is now at war with an enemy of the body.  Maybe the hopes you had for a child or a loved one seem lost.  Maybe the dreams for yourself seem far away.  The world, our world stops momentarily, a shift occurs and we prepare for what is ahead, just as we do for cold weather. 

But we are not alone.  God is with us, and nothing.......not one thing surprises Him.  Not one thing is too big for Him.  Not one thing prevents God from moving forward..........Today, if your world seems to have stopped, take a deep breath.  Pick up the Word and seek peace.  Stay warm wrapped in His love.  Remember that God is bigger than any problem we face.  This too shall pass.  Just like this brutally cold weather, this too shall pass.