Valentine’s week, 2/14 – 2/18/2021, is not one that many Texans will forget anytime soon. This week we in North Texas experienced the Winter Storm of 2021, the coldest and most severe weather experienced in decades. On Sunday, 2/14/2021, the temperature was 15 degrees in Dallas, breaking the lowest Valentine’s Day temperature record since 1906. The wind chill dropped to -10 degrees. It was colder in Texas than most of Alaska on Monday morning, and on Tuesday morning, the temperature dropped to a low of -2 degrees, making it the coldest day in North Texas in 72 years. Also, the state received from 2 to 7 inches of snow this week.
Parts of North Texas also received some of the “side effects” of this level of weather: a 133-car pileup in Fort Worth, Texas, killing six people and injuring dozens; rolling power outages leaving as many as 3 million in icy homes; gas stations out of gas; store shelves emptied; people without safe water. And all of this occurred while we are still amid a global Pandemic that has affected over 28 million Texans, killing nearly 495,000 people.
We have been bombarded in Texas, but Saints know that God is still in control. We believe that He will take us through any hardship.
Isaiah 43:2 says:
When thou passeth through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
Matthew 28:20 tells us:
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
And, because we know that Jesus is with us, we endure hardness as good soldiers. 2 Timothy 2:3 says:
3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
This post features the words of a Saint of God, who is a young nurse with a teenaged daughter. She lives in a small city in Texas and decided to share her thoughts with the Nurses Guild Members of our church, Full Gospel Holy Temple World Headquarters in Dallas, Texas. When she wrote her thoughts through our group communication app, I asked her permission to post them because her words clearly show how she is enduring hardness as a good soldier. It also demonstrates how Saints of God go through trials and tribulations as stated in James 1:2-4, counting it all joy.
2My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
3Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
4But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
Although this mother and daughter have experienced multiple sessions of a rolling power outage, the joy of the Lord in her heart is real. She refuses to focus on the negative side of her circumstances but even finds a measure of “fun” in the whole experience. Despite what she is going through, she proclaims, “God is good!” Following are her words from Tuesday, 2/16/2021. I pray that her words will bless you as she blessed us.
Tuesday Night Thoughts
What did they do years ago without all of the luxuries that we are so reliant upon in this day? My grandmother has been gone for 20 years this year. I miss some of the stories she use to tell us…ya know…how when they had to walk miles to school in the snow.
Oh the things in life we take for granted. Walking into the room and flipping a switch to turn on lights…turning on the water to realize you have no hot water because you have no electricity. Ahhh CENTRAL HEAT!!! It’s a wonderful thing when you can get it. It’s now staying on for more than an hour at a time. Internet–oh how we enjoy the internet. Being able to get in the car and drive to the grocery store to get a gallon of milk or a carton of eggs…what about a single loaf of bread. Or how about having hundreds of dollars worth of groceries available but no way to cook it or reheat (not able to pop anything in the microwave or a pot on the stove to cook). When we went through the fire’s aftermath (she lost her house to a fire in the Summer of 2020), I have learned that I don’t need a bunch of stuff to be happy. We have my life, health, and strength. We are blessed to have family-natural and spiritual-calling or texting to check on one another…to open up doors to welcome people in from the elements. GOD IS GOOD, Y’ALL! He is with us even in this. We will get through this. He will see us through.
I think we might “die” if we didn’t have our phones though. Some of our kids would probably feel like they are dying without theirs.
These last couple of days have allowed me the opportunity to spend quality time with my daughter (in the same room all day). We spend time together when we are at home any ways (laughing/talking/reading/lots of hugs and her breathing in my face. Though I keep telling her to stay out of my face, she doesn’t listen), but this has been different.
I think I would love working from home and home schooling. Minus the no heat/no electricity thing for most of the day on yesterday and today, it’s been kinda’ fun.
I love you all! Just thought I’d share my thoughts this evening. Thanks for reading.
May God bless you and take you through any trials that you may encounter, and may His richest and best be yours always is my prayer.
Awesome testimony! May GOD continue to bless you (family).