Encouragement

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When I was a young girl, my parents took me, and my sister that was thirteen and a half months older than me, from California to Lubbock, Texas. Enroute, we encountered a fierce sand storm. At times, visibility was poor and scary.

We stopped at a small town near Clovis, New Mexico to mail a letter or postcard. I was riding in the front seat, on the passenger side and planned to go to the mailbox. The wind caught the door and ripped it open, pulling me out with it. I tried to pull the door shut with all my strength, but to no avail. I just did not have the strength against the strong wind. I cried, "Daddy! I can't pull the door shut." My Daddy, who was a carpenter by trade, reached over me and with his strong arm pulled the car door shut.

We continued on our trip. I was tired and curled up on the front seat, laying my head in my Daddy's lap. I soon fell asleep, only to wake up having a nightmare. In my sleep, I was screaming, "Daddy, I can't pull the door shut!" I awoke by feeling my Daddy patting me and saying, "That's okay baby, go back to sleep."

At times, the storms of life pulls at our strength until we feel strengthless to shut the door and be sheltered from the storm. It is at those times that God, our Heavenly Father, reaches over us, using His strength to pull the door shut. He reassures us that it's okay to be strengthless and that He is willing and available to be our strength. He wants us to draw near to Him and rest in Him.

I am reminded of a song sung by Jeannie and Bob Johnson entitled "Hold Me". The verse goes like this:

Sometimes the little girl in me wants to climb on Father's knee
When the world outside gets too big for me.
When the fears too great for me to hide
And my fondest dreams have almost died.
He always understands when I say ...
"Hold me, Hold me
I'm so afraid of the storm
Hold me, Hold me"
I am safe in my Father's arms.


June Riley 1996

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