GREEN-LIGHT revolution

Good evening!

Here it is... Part III! If you haven’t read my experiences in Part I and II, then go ahead and read them! :) This past year God has carried me through many different struggles and reminded me daily of His faithfulness! My last two posts were stories of how I just happened to be in Joplin during the May, 22nd tornado and how He protected me from what could have been a very serious car accident. When you have near death or catastrophic things happen in your life, it shakes you and causes you to be reminded of what's really holding you together in the first place. That is just what happened to me!

After the tornado, I was in shock. I didn’t know why it happened and I didn’t know why people had died and I had lived. One thing I did know was that God was still in control and that He was still good because He never changes. I couldn’t understand the randomness of it happening while I was visiting Joplin, but I did know God’s hand was on my life. It still takes my breath away that He had even been preparing my heart for something life-shaking to happen earlier that day.

On my flight home on January 3rd, I had been journaling about feeling torn between my home in NH and my home in Joplin, here is how I concluded my frustrations,

“I am still very thankful for His hand in my life. I’d be utterly lost without Him. I’m willing to admit that I don’t completely understand, but I still completely trust His sovereignty even when my feelings are messing with my head.”

This was just hours before my car incident where for lack of a better term, “My life flashed before my eyes.” There He was again, preparing my heart for trials.

Why have I shared these stories with you ladies? So I could victimize myself and get my 15 minutes of fame? Nope! I’ve taken the time to write out these experiences because I believe that God is glorified through them! We have all gone through inexplainable situations/seasons in our life that we don’t understand but amidst our confusing and faith-shaking times, there is hope! The Psalmist says in Psalm 73:26,

My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

When we feel weary in our hearts and bodies, we can be reminded that the Creator of the universe is our strength and all that we need! We can be reminded that, “God’s hand is on you and if He took His hand off of you for even a minute, you’d cease to exist." (excerpt from @JoshKouri at Mobilise) God’s hand is one of strength and might and there isn’t a second that goes by, when He isn’t involved in our lives.

He IS faithful. Rest in the truth of that this weekend and this lifetime! Wow oh, wow! He is good!

Going green,

Abby :)

January 3rd, 2012:

I had spent the entire day traveling and was heading back to Missouri after spending two wonderful weeks with my family. During my plane ride, I had been journaling and questioning God about His purposes for my life... I was wrought with curiosity why He was allowing me to feel so torn between NH and MO. I was having an emotional flight to say the least!

Upon arriving in Kansas City, my friend was kind enough to pick me up at the airport and drive me back to Joplin. It was early evening and we had three hours on the quiet Missouri highways to catch up. Our ride was going smoothly and I’d even thought about remarking about just how smoothly it was going, when all of a sudden something happened. We had just gotten in the left lane and were trying to pass the semi truck next to us. All of a sudden, the car behind the semi, which was next to us, tried to cut in front of our car. There was no possible way it could fit, so my friend did what anyone would do and veered the car towards the median and eventually spun back on the road. All I remember was seeing the lights of another semi and thinking in my head, “This is really going to hurt.” (Yes I know, what a brilliant and helpful thing to be running through my head at the time). Before I knew it, the car had come to an abrupt halt off the right side of the highway. Both of us were fine. She'll tell you that she doesn't even remember what she did to keep us from hitting the other semi...it was nothing short of a miracle.

I’ve never had an experience like that in my life. There have been times where I thought I might get badly injured but never a time where I thought I could die. We could have been smashed by a semi and the car should have rolled. It is nothing but the grace of God that both of us escaped uninjured.

Now that you've heard my two stories... I want to assure you that I didn't post them just so I could talk about myself. There is a point to all of this. :)

Tune in tomorrow for Part III...

Going green,

Abby

Last weekend I was at a Newfrontiers USA conference called, “Mobilise” and it was amazing. There are so many reasons why this weekend was great... Not only did I get to see friends from all over the country but I also got to worship and seek God with them. There is one thing that someone prayed at Mobilise that I've been mulling over all week, “God’s hand is on you and if He took His hand off of you for even a minute, you’d cease to exist.” Talk about a reality check! This sentence affected me greatly and brought to mind two experiences from my past year...

May, 22nd, 2011: At the time, I was still living in NH but visiting Joplin for a friend’s wedding. That morning I went to church and was reunited with many of my best friends. It was a happy day, indeed! During worship at church, I felt clearly that God wanted to tell the church that He is good through all circumstances and we can trust Him no matter what we’re going through. At this point in the day, I was thinking, “Yeah, that's great God... I’m so happy right now and I'm feeling totally blessed.” Little did I know...

Fast forward 6 hours later... I was driving back to where I was staying with a friend and the weather was starting to look so eerie and calm. The sky looked like I’d never seen it look before and suddenly, all the radio stations had weather alerts playing. I’d heard tornado alerts before but like a lot of people living in the Midwest, I’d never taken their warnings too seriously. As we neared our destination, the radio announcers got increasingly serious and before I knew it; they started talking about how the tornado had hit the ground. At this point, I was still relatively calm and continued driving towards our destination. The radio stations announced that signs of the tornado would be rain and hail. Sure enough, it started to rain and hail began to shower from the sky just as the tornado sirens started blaring. I began to freak out and for a lack of a better term I “Put the pedal to the metal!” Thankfully, we reached the house and ran down to the basement. We sat down there with our friends and some neighbors and laughed, trying to pass the time...we were completely oblivious to whatever was happening outside until we turned on the radio and heard a man describe the incredible devastation.

Later on, I learned that it was a F-5 tornado and over 100 people had died. Here I was taking my vacation time for the year and out of nowhere a tornado destroys one of my most beloved towns. It was one of the most life-changing days I've ever experienced and left me totally speechless.

So, here I leave you with my first story...

Stay tuned for Part II and III...

Going green,

Abby