I live in Florida and as you know Hurricane Irma had all of us concerned.  This storm gave us some time to prepare, which I am thankful for, however,  this is not always the case .  One of my friends told me that her family in Cuba lost power early in the storm and had no way on knowing what was going on.  Time and knowledge are good because it gives us opportunities to get ready, but what do you do when there is no time and knowledge?

 Here are some practical ways to help us be ready for  unpredicted storms in our lives.

1.   A strong relationship with God.  When our daughter had the stroke it was our connection with God that gave us strength during those moments of uncertainty.   I have close friends that have lost their children to an unpredictable storm in life and it is their relationship with God that has helped them come through that.   A strong relationship with God doesn't happen overnight is something that we need to cultivate daily. When people work out they don't become fit from one night to the other it's a regular discipline.  I believe that in this area we need to be careful, some may think, " well, I am a good person and I go to church."  This is not what I am talking about, it is praying, reading the Bible, taking time to listen to God, by applying what the Bible says to our lives.

2.   Prioritize your life with the things that truly matter.   We evacuated from Florida and went to our grandma's house in Tennessee.  We only took important papers, some clothes and food. What a reminder that what  truly matter is that my family was together. This was a priority check.   Because life sends us unpredictable storms let's live every day with our priorities in order. Do not wait till tomorrow to ask someone for forgiveness (or forgiving them).  Don't wait till tomorrow to spend time quality time with your children or significant other. Don't wait till tomorrow to call your elderly parent or visit them.  Don't wait till tomorrow to do the things that really matter in life. When my daughter was airlifted to the hospital, all I could think was, Lord please let her live, because I do not want to live with the regrets of wanting to spend more time with her.  It is easy in our culture to let other things that are good mess up our priorities.  Tomorrow is not promised, so let's make every day be the best day ever, so when the surprised storms come, we do not have to live in regrets, but on the contrary we are strong because we had our priorities in order.

3.  Embrace some of the minimalistic attitude, less is better.   Sometimes we are caught up with so many things, stuff, extra activities and things that  eventually, these things take over our lives and suffocate what really matters.  Simple living, happy life is what my blog is about.  For many years now, I have tried to juggle being a great mom, pastor and friend.  I have embrace many things that are thrown my way and now I am exhausted.  I look back and have amazing memories and see how God has used my family and me to be a blessing to many.  People have even told me that.  However, I also look back and realize that many of those things as great as they were, took a little bit of me and now I am exhausted.  For example, I have been part of meetings that I could have said no (and the meeting could have been just fine without me).  I could have delegated someone to help someone else (I don't have to do it every time, I can share the blessing). I could say no, to things people give me that I know I don't need (I always thought this was rude, but in all reality, I have tons of things in my house that I now have to make extra time to find someone else to use it or take it to Goodwill.  Don't get me wrong, I take hand me downs, and other things, but I don't have to take everything people give me, if I don't need it and if it doesn't line up with my new focus..."simple living, happy life.".  I can say, "I loved what you gave me last time, but at the moment I already have a lot of that, you can bless someone else with it."

4. Have a community that can be your support group.  With this storm our neighbors have been such a great support group, not only during Irma but also when our little one had her stroke.  I can think of how my friends through time and across distance have been such a support group. I know that not everyone is a social butterfly and has many friends, but I do encourage that you reach out to at least one or two people and be a blessing to them, you never know how they can turn around and be a blessing to you.  

5.  Have a drill.  Schools and different types of organizations have fire, tornado drills, etc... From time to time we should too.  In this I include drills like, family crisis, financial stress, etc... Obviously we can not plan for everything in life or live in fear.  However, this is why having a little money aside for a rainy day is good, in case you need to take extra days off for work, or even the loss of a job.  

In conclusion, I go back to the first point of a relationship with God.  In all reality in Him is the only safe place for whatever storm known or unknown that comes our way.  My family and I were sitting in a boat coming back from a little island off Honduras and all of a sudden we were caught in an ugly storm.  My immediate reaction was to start to fear because my oldest daughter at the time was only 2 years old.  However, I prayed and God reminded me of a Bible story in which He calmed the storm.  It was as He was telling me that this is not our permanent home and death does not have the last word, because I believe in the resurrection day.  I cannot described the amount of peace I had at that moment.  As the storm got worst (kinda, like in a movie) I kept repeating, "I know what the end of the story is."  We will either make it safe to the other side, or we will sleep in Jesus, until we get safe to our new home, when Jesus comes.