Photo was taken at Ballincollig Regional Park, Co.Cork (Irl)

One of many trees which fell in last Wednesday’s storm

Thought on Saturday – February – 15/02/2014

‘I firmly believe that in every situation, no matter how difficult, God extends grace greater than the hardship but also strength and peace of mind that can lead us to a place higher than where we were before.’ ~Andy Griffith

The huge storm that hit Ireland last Wednesday has become known as ‘Storm Darwin’. With gusts of wind up to 160km, it has put itself right up there in the Top 5 of the greatest and biggest storms to hit Ireland. There have been many stories of trees falling, near misses and miraculously no fatalities. Even in the midst of a big storm there were lighter moments. A story was shared on 96FM about a boy whose precious Liverpool ball got lodged way up in a tree during the summer. No one could climb anywhere near it to get it down. It stayed there until last Wednesday. Thankfully the tree stayed put but the ball was lifted up and out of its predicament. There was great rejoicing when ball and child were reunited!

On a spiritual level a storm has meaning too. We can all relate to those events in our lives that feel like a storm, when it seems we are out of control because of a sequence of events happening around us. Yet we still believe that in the midst of a storm that God is with us. We believe that God is not the cause of the storm but firmly with us through it. We believe that in every situation no matter how difficult, that God gives us strength to cope and get through. Whatever storm we may be going through right now, we are not on our own.