In every high and stormy gale my anchor holds...

When darkness seems to hide His face
I rest on His unchanging grace
In every high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil.

God gave me a wonderful vision the night before last that I would love to share. That night, well, actually early yesterday morning at 4:00 a.m., I was awakened by a horrible storm. It was thundering and lightning, and the wind was blowing so hard that the windows and walls were rattling, and almost-horizontally-falling rain was pelting the windows like pebbles! It was quite a racket, and it startled me awake.

I couldn't believe that no one else seemed to be waking up, it was so loud. Usually at the first clap of thunder, the kids are awake and screaming. Things like that usually spook Cindy too, and my thoughts immediately went to her. I listened and she didn't seem to be stirring, thank the Lord, but then a thought hit me that I couldn't shake. Cindy gets spooked by weird noises and doesn't like being at home at night without me being here. The thought came to me, "Who will be there to comfort Cindy?" Almost without hesitation, the Lord said to me, "YOU WILL!"

This has been a real faith struggle for me since my January 15 appointment at Moffitt. I had hoped for something, some diagnosis, and I felt like I went away with nothing but "come back in five weeks" after more tests. I was discouraged. Then we had barely arrived home from Tampa when Annie had to go to the ER and then admitted to the hospital with dangerously-low anemia. Our house, especially our bedroom, is still in shambles as we slowly have work done following our slab leak a few months ago. The house in chaos, nothing from the doctor (in my view), and Annie in the hospital. Needless to say, this week has not been our week. I spiraled into depression and moped around most of the week. I was short with the nurses at the hospital, with my family, and with God. I felt my attitudes reverting to the "old ways" that God is trying to move me out of. I became discouraged. I still am struggling against that "works mentality" (see a previous post) in somehow feeling that if I don't get everything right, I won't merit being healed. How absurd! But that's what I was feeling.

This is when God gave me a vision that I realized was similar to Jesus' teaching on the wise man building his house on the rock instead of sand, but with a twist that I had never even really considered before. God always seems to give me visions with water or the sea, which is funny since I know almost nothing about the sea, boats, surfing, etc. Maybe God's telling me something?!?

In this vision, God showed me a large ship with a huge anchor holding it in place. It was as though He put a pane of glass so that I was able to see the ship, the water's surface, and under the water all the way to the bottom. The anchor was blurry, but it was obviously solidly hooked to the bottom. God showed me that if there is any slack in the anchor chain (or the rode as I've found it's called), the ship may drift within the boundaries of the slack in the chain, but it will not drift away into oblivion. God reminded me that I have anchored my faith on his promise that I will live 40+ more years. My faith and hope is built upon that and, as such, as the storm and the waves crash against my "ship", she may drift, but as long as that anchor holds, I do not need to fear being lost to Him. When the ship is directly above the anchor, it's as though God is very close. If she drifts, I may feel that God is far away, but He isn't, because He holds the anchor! There will be times of doubt, times in the desert, but those are followed by refreshing times in His presence, and I never need to worry that I will drift too far or that the storms of life will push me too far away, because I don't have the anchor. He has it!

God reminded me of the old hymn, "The Solid Rock", especially the verse at the top of this post. Darkness...the storms...may SEEM to hide His face, but my anchor is held "within the veil". I may not even see clearly that the anchor is holding, but I can be sure that it is because, behind that blur, that veil, His hands insure that it stays put! What an awesome promise and an awesome vision! I never thought that storms could push us around, but that we are still in the Lord because of the anchor. It was something I knew, but I saw it in a whole different way. Thank you, Lord, that you always watch out for us, and you always hold us close even as the storms of life and the large waves pound against us. Blessed be Your Name!

The Solid Rock - by Edward Mote
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly trust in Jesus' Name.


Chorus:
On Christ the solid Rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground is sinking sand.


When darkness seems to hide His face
I rest on His unchanging grace
In every high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil.


Chorus


His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood
When all around my soul gives way
He then is all my Hope and Stay.


Chorus


When He shall come with trumpet sound
Oh may I then in Him be found
Dressed in His righteousness alone
Faultless to stand before the throne.
 
Chorus