"I saw another angel flying in midair..." Revelation 14:6

Angels fly Isaiah describes them as covered with wings. (Isaiah 6:2) The Psalmist implies that they soar on the wings of the wind. (Psalm 18:10) Yet, instead of soaring, sometimes this AnGeL feels like she's sinking.

When the telephone rang on February 26th, I had no idea the call would precipitate a launch into the wild blue yonder of faith. My son's voice on the other end of the line sounded strong, but serious. "Mom, the doctor thinks I have cancer." With those few words, I was suddenly catapulted into the eye of an unexpected, raging storm that lashed at every aspect of my life.

Yet in the midst of the storm which hit as suddenly and fiercely as the devastating tornadoes which have plagued the southeast this spring, I experienced an unprecedented peace-and joy! As I prayed with my son Jonathan on the telephone during that initial conversation, I was able to praise God for His divine purpose for his life which apparently included cancer. Although we were caught by surprise, we knew God had known about it since before Jonathan was born. We knew also that Jonathan had been prayed for before conception, every day of my pregnancy, and every day of his life since birth. He had been born again as a child, and now is a young adult was in God's will as far as he understood it. Therefore we had absolute confidence that the outcome would be for Jonathan's good and God's glory (Romans 8:28). We knew God had a plan and Jonathan's life was part of it!

The doctor's diagnosis was confirmed by the examination of a specialist. Within a week of the first diagnosis, and just four weeks before his wedding day, our twenty-eight year old son underwent successful surgery to remove a malignant tumor. With the recommended follow-up treatments of radiation, the prognosis of total recovery is excellent.

What storm has swept into your life? The storm of death? Divorce? Disease? Debt? Has there been an eruption of a feud in your family? A betrayal in your marriage? A rebellion to your parenting? The miscarriage of a baby? A severance from a job? What has been your reaction to the storm?

One way you can tell the difference between a turkey and an eagle is by their reactions to the threat of a storm. A turkey reacts by running under the barn, with his wings over his head, hoping the storm won't come near him. On the other hand, an eagle leaves the security of his nest and spreads his wings because he knows the air currents of the approaching storm will carry him higher in the sky than he could soar on his own. So which are you? A turkey or an eagle in the way you react to the storms of life?

In the past eighteen months, my family has experienced one storm after another From Hurricane Fran, to the fire that consumed my husband's dental office, to the engagements and weddings of all three children, to Jonathan's cancer and surgery, we have reeled from one emergency or crisis to another. In the whirlwind, I have discovered I am an emotional turkey. I want to withdraw from the aching pain and burdensome demands and frenzied activities and unending responsibilities. I want to run under the barn with wings over my head and hide from friends and family who feel ignored or slighted, misunderstanding my busyness and preoccupation for indifference or arrogance

Yet I have chosen to be an eagle in my spirit. And as I have spread my wings of faith to embrace the "Wind" (John 3:8), I have discovered His joy balances the pain, His power lifts the burden, His peace calms the frenzy, and His all-sufficiency is able to meet all my responsibilities. Soaring has become an adventure of discovering just how faithful He can be when I am way out of my comfort zone in the stratosphere over the storm. In fact, soaring is so exhilarating, I find increasingly I am no longer content to live in the barnyard of familiarity just for the relative security that seems to be there.

Looking back over the past eighteen months, I feel confirmed that God has allowed the storms to increase and intensify in my life because He has wanted me to soar higher in my relationship with Him-to fall deeper in love with Him, to grow stronger in my faith in Him, to be more consistent in my walk with Him, to bear more fruit in my service to Him. This growth in depth and strength and consistency and fruitfulness is only possible when the winds of life are contrary to our personal comfort (1 Peter 1:6-9; 4:12-13, 19). And this growth is necessary if we are to withstand greater storms that are yet to come.

And I believe that greater storms are coming. Not just storms in my personal life but storms in our nation and in our world. Our nation and world, including organized religion, cannot ignore God's Word and flaunt God's principles and hoard God's resources and abuse God's creation and mock God's people and despise God's Son with impunity. God is not mocked. 'Whatsoever a person or a nation sows, that will it also reap (Galatians 6:7). God's Spirit will not always strive with man (Genesis 6:3). There is a limit to God's patience.

Could it be that the recent devastating tornadoes and floods and ice storms, the unseasonable warmth in the north and the freezing cold in the south, the droughts in the tropics and the floods in the desert-could it be that all we blame on El Nino are warnings of the storm of God's wrath and judgment to come if we do not humble ourselves, repent of our sin and cry out to God for mercy? What will it take for God to convince us of the truth that "it is not the economy, stupid," it is integrity, morality, eternity and our relationship with Him that is of bottom line importance? He Who sits in the heavens laughs at our opinion polls and approval ratings and spin doctors (Psalm 2:4). Truth is still truth, right is still right, wrong is still wrong, and God is still God!

As the warning clouds gather, what are you doing to prepare for the coming storm? Would you join this AnGeL and spread your wings in daily Bible study, disciplined prayer and devoted obedience to your Lord? Embrace the Wind! And keep your focus on the Lord Jesus Christ as you soar higher and higher and higher...

In His Joy,

Anne Graham Lotz