Seeing God in Little Things - A Short Story

Homeschooling is for the mamas too, you know! We learn right alongside our kids. 

So when, "How to Make Sentences More Interesting for Writing Short Stories" became the topic in Language Arts the other day, I wanted to write a short story, too. Why should the kids get to have all the fun?

I decided to jot down a true event from just this week as my short story.

And since I have no where else to place my story, I will have to park it here on my blog for the time being.

I hope it blesses you.

 🍃 🌳 🍃 

 We've been experiencing notable weather lately. While visiting my in-law's home on Sunday it was practically picturesque. Warm sun, blue sky, crisp air. Out of no where, however, we began to hear a perplexing, horrible, scratching noise. Before anyone could ask about it, we saw from the kitchen window a large tree falling to the ground. It collapsed in what seemed like slow motion, taking another tree down with it.

We ran outside and noticed immediately the tree was from the neighbor's yard. How strange! It wasn't a dead tree, its branches were filled with green leaves. It just laid there, snapped off from the base and completely filling the road with debris, blocking traffic. Even though the tree was enormous, it somehow did no damage at all to houses, cars, or people.

The following day we were over again, and I saw the neighbors out in the front still cleaning up the huge mess. I walked over to talk with them. They showed me where the tree's massive trunk just barely (but completely) missed their power box, and told me how grateful they were no one was hurt!

"This could have been so bad!" they said.

I told them about the time our property was hit by a tornado, and how we had significant damage all around the yard, yet our house was untouched. I explained to them that sometimes God puts His hand of protection on a situation, sparing people... withholding potential destruction. In those times we should acknowledge God and be thankful. Then I walked back to the house.

The very next morning we awoke to dark skies and sounds of distant thunder. I happened to read Psalm 29 in my daily Bible reading session.

"...The glory of the Lord thunders... The voice of the Lord is powerful... The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars... The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightening..." But the end of the chapter finishes like this, "The Lord gives strength to His people, and blesses His people with peace."

I noticed the correlation between the weather outside and what I had just read, then I pondered for a minute on that tree collapsing - God planned how and when it would collapse and where it would land. His voice broke that cedar.

The thunder intensified as I shuffled around the kitchen, making breakfast that morning. The sky grew darker, and the trees around the yard began to shake. A storm was threatening. I intended to ignore the weather and carry on with my household duties, but the phone rang. It was my mother. She informed me that a hail storm was heading my direction, and advised me to turn on the news and consider moving my car into the barn for protection.

(We are now true country people in that we park our vehicles out in the elements to make room in the garage for the four-wheelers.)

I had so much to do that morning that I did not wish to get bogged down with news watching or vehicle moving, but I hastily made the decision to drive the car out to the barn to just be done with it. The sky was darker now, and more thunder could be heard from far off, but otherwise nothing alarming was happening. It wasn't even sprinkling. I moved the car with the feeling that the storm would blow over, proving the move to be unnecessary. 

Oh well, I thought. At least I did it  just in case.

I walked back to the house in calm, dry conditions. But as I approached the back door the sky opened up and within seconds we were being pelted with driving rain and hail. Upon entering the house I could hear the noisy tap-tap, clank-clank of hail hammering the windows. It would have definitely left unfavorable impressions on our car, but it was luckily tucked safely inside our barn.

I was so relieved!

These are the moments where it is not difficult to see the Lord's provision in life.

He prompted my mother to call me. He promoted me to move the car quickly. (Something I don't normally bother with.) Then He waited for me to reach the back door of the house before He let loose the rain. Of course I was intentional in pointing this out to my children, who watched the events unfold. I also reminded them that God cares about even the details of our lives and is always looking after us. What matters to us, matters to Him.

And about that mysterious tree... I later learned from my mother-in-law that their neighbors are not Christians, nor have they been open in the past to even hearing about the Lord.

I hope He will use what I said to plant a seed in their hearts.

🍃 🌳 🍃

"Fire and hail, snow and clouds;

Stormy wind, fulfilling His word."

- Psalm 148:8

~ Courtney