Knowing God's Peace In The Storm

Do you know how to stand firm in the storms and not let them sway you or blow you away?
This past week I was tested in a big way....
Upon coming home from church on sunday, my thoughts were on getting a birthday cake for my youngest son as we were having a family gathering later in the afternoon. It was all planned but what I didn't know was we were expecting a lot of wet and windy weather.
Living near the ocean is great in summer but winter can bring strong winds!
As we headed home I could tell the wind had picked up. There were tree branches every where along the road and as we got to the cake shop I knew we were in for a wild time and we needed to get home as soon as possible.
Upon getting home i realized we had no power and there was part of a shed/fence that was flapping in the wind. I knew I had to try tying it down but the wind was so strong and my eldest son and I could not do anything so we just left it. The feeling in the air was quite daunting and it felt like a 'Dorothy' moment for me so before we could get blown away or have something fly from out of nowhere to land on us we got inside!
In the end the wind snapped the shed piece in half and it landed on the ground so I felt better about it. As the wind died down a bit the kids and I went out the front and as we were talking to our neighbor we heard a crash. This is what we found......

We live near a park and I guess one of the trees decided the wind was too strong for it and it fell. Unfortunately for us it was on our power lines and this meant power would not be back on any time soon. There was a lot of damage around and we would have to just get in line and wait like everyone else. What a bummer that was. Thankfully we had a wood fire to keep us warm and still had the gas stove to cook. It's funny how we become so complacent and don't worry until something happens that makes us leave our comfort zones. Having the power on is something I am sure we all take for granted, when it's gone it makes for interesting times. I was content to carry on as usual but I have three techno kids who don't know much about a life that doesn't allow you to charge up the ipods! We did enjoy playing cards by candlelight and I enjoyed the early nights too.
So no power on at home, three kids not going to school and a husband away meant long days for me. The kids were fine but I could tell they were kinda unsure about what was going on. Tuesday came and usually when it's your birthday you have a good day. It happens that our youngest shares his birthday with me but because there was so much going on it didn't feel like a happy day at all. I actually wanted to just go back to bed and have it next week! Thankfully my beautiful friends Alinta and Luke had power and so we went over to visit to get some over due washing done and charge some things up. The weather warning on the news said we were due for another storm with strong winds so prepare. Alinta offered for us to stay the night. I said no to start with but after being at her place with some sort of normality I decided we should stay and get a good night sleep. The problem with that meant I was leaving my home to fend for itself. People lost fences and some lost their roof on Sunday. I wasn't sure how bad the next storm was going to be but I just prayed that when we got home the next morning everything would be fine and left it in God's hands. Our birthday ended a lot better than we expected and we even got a cake made for us by Luke.
On arriving home Wednesday morning we turned into our street and saw workers fixing the power pole and found our home still in one piece with the power back on...Thank you Jesus! It was a really nice way to start the day. That night hubby came home too so all was starting to get back to some sort of normal.
What I learnt from this experience is;
I am tougher than I know during trying times and that God's peace is never far away when I desperately need it. Sometimes we are more prepared for the unexpected than we realize. All I know is if I didn't have a BIG God who is in control and couldn't turn to HIM I probably would have stressed out more than I needed to.
What do you do during trying times? Do you try do it in your own strength or do you call on the one who has all the answers?
Psalm 18:2 “The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.”