Answered Prayer Packaged in Inconvenience

By Brenda Black

When you pray for drought relief, there's no excuse to complain about mud. The catch 22 of moisture soaking the soil is the accumulation of mush on top. Far and wide across the nation, massive snowfall brought life-giving water in an inconvenient, all be it, beautiful form, turning every day routines into harrowing feats. But, if you think driving to work in a foot of slippery fluff is difficult with solid pavement under the tread, try plowing to work on the farm, through drifts and ruts, over slick, tender grass blades. All I can say is Yee Haw! Hold on tight and give it the gas!

I 'm glad my husband is the one at the wheel while I ride shotgun through such a challenging course. I would rather be the gate girl than the wife who slid the pickup into the fence. I don't know how he navigates through slimy, narrow passages or keeps it in the center of oozing slush, flanked by walls of white drifts just waiting to suck our rig into stuck. I do understand the absolute necessity of keeping my window rolled up! Some things you learn the hard way and a freezing cold mud bath slung in the face is one class I never intend to take.

Ask anyone who knows me well and they will tell you I am a “do it myself” kind of gal. I take on everything with an “I can” attitude. Sometimes, not to my credit, but to my shame, I think I can do it in my own strength. That's about as smart as me taking the wheel through a dangerous snow drift or riding shotgun to feed hay in winter with the window rolled down! I need to know my limits. I need to accept my powerlessness at times. I need to employ some God-given common sense and I need to turn to God.

If I ask Him to help me, then deny the answer He gives me or the help He brings, I'm going to curse the showers of blessings instead of accept them in their various forms. In rain and snow and sleet and mud, the Lord is good. His perfect wisdom is our solid foundation when the bottom of the road seems to disappear into oblivion. His perfect love protects us from the cold, nasty challenges that life slings into our face. His perfect grace does not demand that we do more than we were ever designed or called to accomplish. The Lord is faithful and knows what is best. Though we wonder at His tactics, we must never begrudge His mysterious answers to prayer.

We pray for the Lord to refresh our land with moisture and He sends a blizzard. That inconvenient snow that some may curse, delivers unseen benefits for which we didn't ask, but we get. Much needed moisture will penetrate deep into the ground as it slowly melts. We receive nitrogen for the soil and a hard freeze to annihilate an overabundance of disease bearing pests. There's run-off filling creeks and ponds and streams that have groaned for a drink. God sees the big picture.

So often, we think we do not get the answers we seek when we pray. In those moments, I must remember that I'm not the Creator in charge of the weather or of life. I need to trust the One who bids the snow to get me through the tough things that want to suck the life out of me or slam me headfirst into a frigid embankment.

Before we can get to the pasture, we first have to get out of the drive!

As the Lord spoke to Job long ago, He speaks with the same authority today: “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail...What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth? Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm, to water a land where no man lives, a desert with no one in it, to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass?” (Job 38:22-27)

I think we know the answer to all of these questions. If God is great enough to command all of earth, isn't He the One that should be 4-wheeling His way through my life. The One at the wheel has far more experience and has every intention of protecting me. I need to employ the common sense the Lord gave me: Just buckle up, keep the window up, and look up for His safety.

Answers to prayer comes packaged in strange and inconvenient containers. But, with eyes wide open , a receptive heart and a good grip on the dash, we might just be able to see the big picture when we trust the Lord to transport us through life's scary drifts.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Snow Days

Snow Days
By Brenda Black

Slick-soled cowboy boots make great pond skates. I learned that when I was in elementary school. Not in the classroom of course. Rather, when school was dismissed because of snow!

After Dad approved safe passage, my brother, sister and I swept and shoveled snow that covered the glassy base of our above water, winter city. We created wide, sparkling paths to serve as roads and packed and piled snowballs for houses, walls and forts. We worked up a sweat as we labored so hard at play. Little by little we peeled off layers of coats and scarves until we could move more freely. And that's when we discovered you can slide a long way in cowboy boots across a frozen sheet. We raced, played tag, pretended we were cops and robbers, race car drivers or Olympic speed skaters. We challenged each other with sleds and sped and crashed with great abandon. Just kids clad in stocking caps, gloves, layers of socks and cowboy boots, we spent hours out in the snow.

If not on the pond, we were at the top of a hill located either direction from home. Our hilly road was always the first one closed and the neighborhood took advantage of toboggan runs paved by the city. Moms and Dads and kids alike scrambled and crawled up icy slopes then glided down to the area that leveled out right in front of our driveway. The ride was thrilling on sleds with runners and even more exciting atop inner tubes. Folks flew down on trash bags, tractor tires, inflatable toys or just did a belly flop at the top and went as far as the frozen road would take them. Ah, snow days, what fun!

Maybe the best part was the warm-up after a playful day in the tundra. I can still feel the prickling sensation as my fingers and toes painfully thawed in front of the gas stove. We jockeyed for the best seat in front of the gaping warm mouth of the oven, while Mom whipped up a homemade pan of hot chocolate. She didn't opt for the kind from a paper pouch, but made hers with real milk, sugar, vanilla, cocoa and love. Ah, snow days, how cozy the thought.

This winter we've experienced hassles and headaches with icy roads, sloppy lots and frozen pipes. I know it has been taxing on both man and beast to endure the cold and wet day in and day out. But for a moment, stop and look at the snow in a different way – through the eyes of a child. Run to the window when you first wake up and feel that giddy delight when you hear your school's name on the radio. Notice the sparkling beauty when the sun hits a drift untouched and pristine. Build a snowman, mold a fort, have a snowball fight like you did when you were young. For just an hour or only one day, or five minutes if that's all you can muster, see the beauty, remember the magic, enjoy the privilege of the variety of seasons here in Missouri. Ah snow days, make the best out of them.

Here are some tips for turning snow days into fond memories:
Snow Ice Cream
3 cups loose, clean snow
2 tbsp. milk
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Mix all the ingredients, sample the result and add more sugar and vanilla extract to taste.


Snow Painting
Mix water and food coloring in a spray bottle. Narrow the stream for fine line drawings and widen the stream for splattering effects and filler color.


Snow Sculpting
The wet, heavy snow we've had lately is perfectly suited for snow sculpting. Much like wet sand, you will be able to pack and create all sorts of shapes. Use the edge of a metal spatula to smooth walls, slope roofs and square up corners. Hollow out windows, doorways and tunnels with a large serving spoon. Bring out the beach toys and put them to work this winter.

If nothing else helps you appreciate the flakes that float and drift, at least acknowledge that they cover over a multitude of ugly this time of year. Barren trees become crystal statues, ruts look like rolls of cotton, dry and dead weeds shimmer like diamonds. And so it is with sinners saved by faith that we too look brand new under a blanket of grace. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” (Isaiah 1:18)

Ah, snow days, they remind us of a fresh new life in Christ. “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:7-10)

Thoughts of God's goodness toward us should give us joy and warm our souls to the extent we make the best of our lives lived purely for Him.


**Visit www.thewordsout-brendablack.com to learn more about author Brenda Black. Order your copy of “I Stand” or “Were You Born in a Barn?” on line and receive an autographed copy today, schedule Brenda for your next event, or find out where she will be speaking and signing books this spring.