Her Name is Debbie

I'm not a huge fan of watching the news on TV. A shocking revelation I know but the truth is that I'm not interested in sport (at least 30% of any given news broadcast), I no longer understand the weather forecast (when did the weather become entertainment rather than informative?) and unless something exciting happens in New Zealand (such as a large earthquake) then the news is either terror or glossed over catastrophe or Trump and the Russians.

Hardly edifying and most of it hardly informative. (I can read all I want to know online.)

But this past week saw me watching the news as I waited for Cyclone Debbie, a Category 4 cyclone, to make landfall on the Queensland coast. I haven't been to Queensland since I was a teenager (about time we remedied that) and most of the place names are just that to me - names.

But this week I had a vested interest in the news concerning Queensland.

My sister and her husband live there.

In the direct path of Cyclone Debbie.

Sis tells me now (now that it's all over) that their house is built to withstand a Category 5 (the highest category) cyclone and that it wasn't nearly as bad as the media made out.

Really? Wind gusts up to 260+ kilometres an hour, storm surges, destroyed buildings, and it wasn't bad?

For my parents and I waiting to hear news it seemed pretty bad. But throughout it all, when we had no contact with my sister during the slow-moving cyclone and our only information came from the media, we had peace that God was in it all.

I had no trouble sleeping or concentrating on my work but instead had a strong sense that she was in God's Hands. Now, on this side of the storm, I am thankful that He kept them safe. I am thankful that their house was undamaged. I am thankful lives were spared (amazingly, I think there were no deaths during the cyclone apart from a road accident leading up to the storm). I. Am. Thankful.

And I know, that whatever had happened, God is good. Circumstances don't change that. It is Who He is. He is Good. And I'm very thankful for that.

Oh, and it seems as if we haven't heard the last of Cyclone Debbie as it's meant to bring rain and wind our way. Somehow I don't think I'll be turning the news on to watch that!















[Pictures taken by my sis after Cyclone Debbie.]

Comments