The sun shone brightly as we sat on the beach. Don and I had driven to Carmel to celebrate our September birthdays. I tossed a stick to our Cavalier, Paigey, who ran, dug underneath the stick so she got less sand in/on her nose, and then ran back to me. “Throw it again, Mum.” Her expressive eyes sparkled, anticipating the next chase. As the dark thunderheads moved above us, I felt a raindrop caress my ankle … then another on my arm, and another, and another …

Don had tucked the beach umbrella into the sand and adjusted it. Paigey found her dry place and tucked in. We had the beach almost to ourselves. We felt close, intimate, cocooned. Thunder roared and lightning flashed. And then the clouds moved and the sun reappeared, until another ominous grey cloud hid its brightness.

Just like life. Storms come, storms go. As my cousin said, “One thing is resolving while another stress is coming down the chute.”

Hurricanes Jose and Maria are following Irma; yet dear friends in Florida, where they just purchased a home, have seen neighbors work together to clear debris and begin the rebuilding process. Another friend lost none of her cattle, and “caught and released” an alligator from her garage, significantly inland from the Coast. Resolving, waiting.

We were never promised a life of ease. Instead, we ARE promised that our God will never forsake us–whether in the middle of the crashing storm or of a sweet life season.

Where are you right now? Are you in a storm or a sweet season? Sometimes they co-exist. I’m in a very sweet season in my marriage, but having shoulder replacement surgery this Thursday to ease pain and limitations I’ve had. I am blessed with a loving, protective husband and a close family unit. I have friends, a lovely home, a doggie who delights my heart. But … it’s so easy to despair when pain strikes, when I

can’t put dishes onto the shelf or hook my seat belt without pain. I don’t see surgery as a storm, but as a little cloud that will hopefully result in greater mobility and less pain down the road. Others face much larger storms, hurricanes, thrashing rain.

Where we look for help is key. God has given us Himself, not only to live within us but to also come alongside us, each day, in each need. As the apostle Paul said, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” Philippians 4:12

Sometimes I am content. Sometimes I fret.

I choose to be content this week. Content in God’s great love and provision for me, His care for the smallest details. And to be thankful!