A Big Jolt

It was a typical summer afternoon in August 2018, with temperatures in the high eighties and lower nineties. For the past month, the weather had been giving us a reprieve from the heat with brief rain showers. One afternoon, I was in the kitchen preparing dinner. My husband, who is legally blind, enjoys listening to the local and national news. It was raining lightly outside, nothing serious.

I told him his news was coming on. Just as he turned on the television and sat back down, a large bolt of lightning flashed through our window.

Even as my husband called for me, I was already there. I had heard and seen it from the kitchen. It shut down my television, telephone, cable box, and Christian satellite box. Yet we were extremely blessed. Our house could have caught on fire, or my husband could have been struck by lightning. That was not the first time that lightning struck our home. We live on a hill, surrounded by a lot of trees.

The tornadoes and storms have blown down about five of them.

I know God has His angels surrounding our home.

We had no telephone or television service for five days.

We had to purchase a new TV set, cable box, satellite box, and telephone. We called an electrician, wanting to make sure our home was grounded since it seems as though our property is prone to incur damage during severe storms.

The electrician walked all around, checking inside and outside. “You are definitely grounded,” he assured us. In God’s Word, we read about Christ’s disciples in a boat during a storm. Jesus was asleep in the boat.

Out of fear, the terrified disciples awakened Him.

Jesus arose and rebuked the storm.

Mark tells us that “the wind ceased, and there was a great calm” (Mark 4:39, KJV). Jesus can also calm our storms —not just the driving rain, howling wind, and lightning bolts but the fierce storms of life. Those times when we’re struggling to pay our bills. Those times when our car breaks down and we have no transportation.

Those times when we get laid off from a job or our marriage fails.

Yes, we all have storms in life, but the good news is that we may experience another type of lightning jolt —from the Holy Spirit.

It wakes us up and reminds us that we’re not alone.

We have a Father in heaven who loves us and strengthens us.

He neither sleeps nor slumbers.

He is standing at the door, waiting for us to invite Him in.

Elaine J. Johnson