Give me your worst ~ I'm resting in Him

"no weather weapon shall prevail against you"

Isaiah 54:17

It was an inside-the-house day today.  Mostly because I crashed into the kitchen island early in the morning, quite possibly breaking my baby toe.  I was in the midst of making breakfast and tidying up the stuff that accumulates on the kitchen counter at the time, but after the collision, I spent a lot of time sitting, with ice on my toes, working on my computer.

But I did go outside twice ~ once in the morning, to hang clothes on the line, and once in the evening to bring them in again.  

Don't you just love the fragrance of clothes that have been hanging on the line?  I don't even live where I can hang my clothes in a wind-swept meadow.  I live in the suburbs.  But still, the clothes smell so fresh and clean.  It's nice. 

The other thing about retrieving the clothes this evening was the temperature.  Autumn in Southern California looks a lot like summer in Southern California.  So the temp's been going back up the past couple of days.  I think it's supposed to hit 90 this weekend.  And today was forecast to be 87.  So I was happy to stay indoors all day.

But I realized, when I went outdoors, that even though it was in the upper 80s today, it's still not as hot as it would have been in the summer.  It's as if the sun is trying just as hard, but it's best is not as strong.  I know it's because it's Autumn, and the earth has turned, and the angle of the sun isn't as direct.  And because the nights are getting longer, and the temperatures at night are dropping lower, the high during the day is briefer.  You know, like a high of 87 during the summer means it's 87 from 10:00 in the morning to 8:00 at night, but a high of 87 in the autumn means it slowly rises during the day, peaking at 87 before starting to drop again.

I'd forgotten all that.  So when I went outside to collect the laundry, I was pleasantly surprised.  I just stood there enjoying the breeze and marveling that 87 degrees just didn't have the power over me that I thought it was going to. 

And that got me thinking about the things that life has to throw at us.  Difficult things, frightening things.... As Christians, these things shouldn't have power over us.  There's no denying them.  But they should be to us like water off a duck's back. 

Like taking candy from a baby. 

Like 87 degrees in autumn. 

He promised there would be trials, and pain in life.  But He also promised we would not be harmed by them.  He promised that we would know victory, and even have peace in the battle, if we keep our eyes on Him.

~ "You have been a strength to the poor,

  A strength to the needy in his distress,

A refuge from the storm,

A shade from the heat" ~

Isaiah 25:4

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