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At shortly after 4 a.m. this morning I had intended the former (plea), but it has now become the latter (praise). Here’s the story.
It began raining on Monday, through Monday night, all day yesterday. It rained hard as I drove all the way to downtown Asheville where we met last night ca. 6 p.m. for our weekly dance at the Mountain Shag Club—my weekly exercise and social activity.
It was still raining when I went to bed about 11:30 p.m. It probably rained through the night because I awoke briefly on several occasions and could hear the rain still falling on the roof, the rainwater exiting through the downspout outside my bedroom, and the winds picking up substantially from time to time.
When I awoke at 4 a.m. with the winds getting even gustier, I could not get back to sleep and so it occurred to me to look at the weather forecast. I turned on my iPhone but I did not get up, grab pen and paper, and copy it down.
And for whatever reason, it did not occur to me to simply take a screenshot on my mobile phone—yeah, I know, the younger folks are giggling at my temporary ignorance of that handy tool 😊, but here is essentially what the forecast was at ~ 4 a.m.:
Rain continuing throughout the day [Wednesday] and through tomorrow.
There was also a red banner alert on my weather app, the kind that alerts customers to the possibilities of major events such as tornadoes, (and now hurricanes in WNC), heavy rains, high winds, flooding, power outages, blizzards, etc. On this occasion, the red banner alert essentially gave this warning:
High wind advisory. Up to 55 mph. With all the rain saturation in the area, this will likely cause some trees to come down. Power outages are to be expected. Winds should die down by tomorrow [Thursday] afternoon.
When I read that, I suddenly realized this was exactly what happened in late September: days of rainfall saturating the ground and then the very high winds of the HHH (Hellish Hurricane Helene) to blow the trees over, causing the devastating destruction with which we are still dealing.
So as I lay there hearing the rain continuing with the winds occasionally kicking up, I began praying to the Father. Oh, please, dear Father/Jesus/Holy Spirit…not again! Please spare us, O Lord! Are You sending this to make WNC a double witness to the nation?
As I prayed, I thought to get up and check the seven places in my house where the drywall has water stains from the HHH, to see if my roof really was repaired, or is it leaking in again? It seems to be okay to the touch and sight.
But I thought that if those winds do get up to 55 mph, the two trees in my neighbor’s yard are only 15 feet from my master bedroom/bath. During the HHH, a large branch of one of them broke off and fell straight towards the stream behind our houses and parallel with the fence dividing our back yards. There is, I knew, a possibility that this time one or both could come crashing into the roof over my bed.
So I continued many minutes in prayer, pleading with our triune God. Father, as Jesus in the boat on the sea of Galilee, You simply rebuked the storm, caused the rains to stop and the winds to be calm.
I am well aware that the wicked are, and have been for decades, using the weather as a weapon of war against us, but they are simply a tool in Your hand to bring us to repentance, so Father would you kindly have mercy on us? Would you cause the rains to cease and the winds to die down?
And would You continue to cause our nation to repent a la 2 Chronicles 7:14?
And on and on I prayed, but the rains and gusts continued. It occurred to me that when I arose this morning, I should immediately go down the hall to my home office and write a brief blog to seek “backup” from my brothers and sisters in Christ. To please join me immediately in prayer to ask the Father to cause this apparently stalled weather front to simply dissolve, and the rains and the winds to cease.
With that purposed in my mind, I finally asked Him to now let me go back to sleep, which I did shortly thereafter.
When I awakened a couple hours ago, the skies were still very dark and heavily overcast, but now, behold! They are still overcast but not nearly so dark, but the rains have ceased and the winds are very gentle, I would guess in the 5-10 mph range.
I am believing He answered my prayer without calling in you all for joining me in my prayer for relief. But rather, this has become a praise report to you! And my goodness, look at how the weather forecast—on the same weather app I used at 4 a.m.—how it has changed!
As I compose this, beginning at 9:30 a.m., the red banner wind advisory has been removed and the forecast totally changed to this. My emphases. QUOTE:
Today—showers likely before 11 a.m., then a chance of sprinkles between 11 a.m. and noon. Patchy fog before 11 a.m.
Otherwise, cloudy early, then gradual clearing, with a temperature falling to around 34 by 5 p.m. Breezy, with a north northwest wind 15-22 mph, with gusts as high as 40 mph [down from 55 mph!]. Chance of precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
Tonight—Mostly clear, with a low around 26. Northwest wind 9-14 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph. END QUOTE
It is now about 11 a.m. as I finish this and post it on the Mighty Network and ASAP on the regular SKM blogging platform. Still, the rain has not even drizzled since I arose, and winds are still very gentle. Hallelu-Yah! Thank you, Jesus!
END