HOW TO FIND GOD WHEN IT’S CRUNCH TIME

Finding God when it’s Crunch Time

-that is the Aftermath of Hurricane Sandy

by Janice Keats

Starting a business has its challenges. There are set-up costs, staffing, supplies and purchases, and so on but who would have thought that a natural storm would come into play?

With a truck and U-Haul in tow, my daughter, along with her husband and infant made our way to Newfoundland to open their business. The long drive from one end of the province to the other was long and tiresome but that wasn’t an issue. The set-up of the business while it was hard work that wasn’t an issue either. It wasn’t until we completed the job that we were faced with a storm.

It was a combination of hurricane sandy and a Nor’easter. When we made it back to the ferry terminal, Marine Atlantic announced that all service to Nova Scotia had come to a standstill due to high winds. That was after we waited in line for 6 hours. As luck would have it we were the very next vehicle to board the ferry if there was one.

We were informed that another ferry was on its way and we were rescheduled. So another 6 hour wait. Not so fast…more grim news. With the gentle tapping on our window from the worker we knew what it meant. That’s when the agonizing moments reached its height.

What do we do now? We cannot put my little grandson through another long wait, it was too hard for him. It had been a hard working week and we were all ready to be in our own homes comfortably settled after this journey.

We had no idea when the ferry service would be back on track. So we drove to Corner Brook for the night and possibly longer. So what do we do?

After a long debate we decided that my daughter and her baby and myself would fly back to Halifax and my son-in-law would be on stand by for the ferry service. It was how we made our decision that everything worked out for the good. As we were agonizing what to do, we settled it God’s way.

We finally agreed that if the ferry service was on schedule the following morning we would return but if it wasn’t we would fly home. We waited and trusted God for the answer. Well, it wasn’t on schedule. We got the “maybe” and “later” but no confirmation except God’s and we were certainly at peace with that.

It was the handing over the situation to God that brought the peace that was needed during those trying moments. We settled on the fact that we knew what to do in the morning. That’s leaving it with God. That’s trusting God in the heart of a storm!

Janice Keats

Janice is a freelance writer, and speaker. Her passion is developing and teaching workshops on various Biblical Studies, and planning ladies night out events. She is a certified lay Pastoral Counsellor and is presently employed in ministry. She has had several articles published in various local, provincial and national newspapers.

She is the author of, Poems of Inspiration and Occasion and, A Journey to the Heart of Evangelism. Future works include a devotional book and an audio book of her poems. She is married with three grown children, all of whom are accomplished musicians. Her twin daughters, known as The Keats, are country singers and her son is a recording engineer. Janice Keats; http://themasterspath.wordpress.com/