Flashbacks

As I organize and make a mental inventory of the dry goods plus the freezer food we have in the house, flashbacks of over 30 years ago rush through my mind and soul.  It was December 1989...I lived alone in a cute apartment own by my brother in Panama city.  In one evening, the world I knew was turned upside-down.  Amidst the bombing, the machine guns hanging from low flying helicopters, the curfew and the American soldiers and tanks surveying the streets, people took to the stores and looted.  Food was the first thing that disappeared.


I don't want to panic, but...it is very difficult when I witness empty shelves at stores where plenty has always been the norm.

"I always said it...It's not the bullets what's going to kill us...it's hunger," Angelita's words are tattooed in my brain.  She was my brother's housekeeper.  She was from Dominican Republic, a country that not that long ago had gone through tremendous hardship as well.  She spoke these words in confidence to me as she opened the pantry in my brother's kitchen to reveal nothing more than a few cans of forgotten things bought by mistake long ago.  I had finally made it to his house so we could be together in one place.  I was relieved to be there...but the reality of scarcity hit me right on the face.  My niece was 11, maybe 12.  My nephew was 6.  We had a cousin who came to find refuge with us.  My brother, sister in law, Angelita and I.  Seven people, a couple of dogs and no food in the house.

These memories rush in as we face the current situation...and all I want to do is fill up every corner of the house with food.  I want the security of stored goods to bring peace to my heart.  But...will it?

Of course not.  The same thing that was true 30 years ago in my life is true today:  The Lord is with us...and He will provide.

He knows what we need.  And He will deliver.

Back then, He made sure we were OK, and today He will too.  I shake off the images from the US invasion of Panama and find refuge in God's promises of His perfect plans for us...not to hurt us, but to give us a future and hope. 

Fully Rely on God!

As we walk into the unknown of these unprecedented current circumstances...we walk knowing that He walks before us.  He is our Pillar of Light and Protection.  Regardless of what might seem as scary unstability, we are not in sinking sands because we stand upon the Solid Rock. 

I pray that the Holy Spirit will give us a very vivid awareness of His Presence in our lives right now.  That we may feel the warm embrace of His arms holding us tight and making fear disappear.  I pray He gives us discernment to know how to proceed.  And above all, I pray we stay calm...trusting Him...Fully Relying on The One Whom the Winds and The Waves Obey!  In the Precious Name of Jesus.  Amen!