When I was little, I loved thunderstorms. I would hear one approaching and sometimes go outside until the rains arrived. The smell and feel of the storm was wonderful! Sometimes I'd sit on the porch during the storm. And, if that wasn't possible, I'd always open a window if there was a window that the wind wasn't pushing the rain into. Loved thunderstorms.
Today, not so much. Last night, once I realized there was lightning outside I was unable to relax or rest. I finally got up and unplugged my computer after having laid there fantasizing about all the things that would be destroyed if lightning hit our house. I also processed the "what if" the lightning hit the porch right outside the window where I was sleeping?
What happened?
Lightning "hurt" me once.
Last year it hit our house...and blew a piece of trim apart inside one of the kids' rooms and blew out our security cameras, our internet, three TVs, the apple TV, the apple Time Machine, the doorbell, and DirecTV. A few weeks later it struck our yard again and blew out our internet again.
I looked into it on the internet and realized that we now live in the "lightning strike capitol of the country" with more strikes per square km than any other state. Lovely!
There is a common way of thinking...that always annoys me and that is, "Whatever doesn't kill me makes me stronger!" or, "You can't appreciate the good without the bad."
I already disagreed with that before this happened, and now, it's the first thing I think of when this fear strikes me. What doesn't kill you makes you weaker. What doesn't kill you hurts you and makes you afraid...and fear...isn't strength. Fear weakens you. I appreciated the beauty of a storm before. Now, I only fear them and wish they'd go away.
Don't be fooled into believing that God somehow has orchestrated some "bad" thing in your life to teach you to appreciate what you have or to make you stronger.
James 1:17
Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.
Proverbs 10:22
It is the blessing of the Lord that makes rich, And He adds no sorrow to it.
1 John 4:8
...God is love.
Romans 13:10
Love does no wrong to a neighbor...
1 Corinthians 8:1
...love edifies.
Love builds up.
Pain and fear tear down.
John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
And, what this also makes me think of are the type of parents who think that somehow their kids are going to learn their lessons better if their parents hurt them somehow to drive the point home. The only thing spanking and punishing does is hurt your children and it instills a mistrust and fear inside their hearts that makes it so that you are not a safe place during a storm. You, too, are something in the world that your child needs to protect themselves from and so they will find something or someone else to think of as their safe place.
Proverbs 14:1
The wise woman builds her house, But the foolish tears it down with her own hands.
No one loves your children more than you do...but your belief in hurting them to teach them and show them your love will send them running into the "arms" of someone or something that doesn't love them with a self-sacrificial love.
You want to parent as God does? Leave the stealing of their comfort and their pleasure, the killing of their trust, and the destruction of their feelings of security and safety to the evil in this world...and you...you and how you use your hands...be their source of abundant safety, pleasure, and security...
Psalm 91:3-5
For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may seek refuge;
His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark. You will not be afraid of the terror by night, or of the arrow that flies by day...
