Have you ever been powerless? We have. During hurricane Irma we were without power for four days. Paulette’s sister and her husband live in Summerfield, and we had them come up and stay with us during the storm until their power came back eight days later. It was frustrating to have no power, but at the end we felt very fortunate. Our only serious damage was having to clean out the spoiled food from two refrigerators; after eight days Paulette’s sister’s food was especially pungent. On the positive side we had eight days of good company. We were also blessed by our neighbors across the street, who had a small generator; each morning that we were without power they brought us a thermos of hot coffee. Hurricane coffee is the best!

Before moving to Ocala, we lived for many years in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. We were powerless there a number of times, almost always due to ice storms. The worst time we were without power for five days during a sub-freezing spell. The outage was wide-spread and for the first few days the roads were treacherous due to ice; all you could do was stay in and hunker down. At night we went to bed being able to see our breath, and all the blankets were so heavy we could hardly move. A lot of people had their water pipes freeze, but we were lucky, because all our pipes were in our basement and never froze. It was amazing what you could cook on a gas grill. Frozen pizza was good even though it was a little crispy. The grill, however, did impart a slight BBQ flavor to all the food; I don’t think I’ll ever like BBQ coffee. We were very happy when the visiting Cincinnati Power and Light trucks appeared on our street.

There are times when we feel powerless in our personal and religious lives – even to the point of depression. Those are the times when we need to have faith that He will strengthen us in the many ways that He can: through trained professionals, through friends and family, by removing burdens, and by giving us coping mechanisms. Prayer and meditation can help us feel comforted. Reading scripture like Isaiah 41:10 can remind us of His promises. It reads

“So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

Many of the Psalms sing of his loving support; for an example, read Psalm 121:1-4 and remember that God loves YOU unconditionally.

Jim