Our Home is in the shop, so we have been taking the time to spend together. Usually, we’re busy working on the motor coach.

We decided a day down the river would be perfect. I’m not sure what we were thinking, but I’m pretty sure we learned some lessons along the way.

 

The tumultuous clouds of the sky followed our raft. Within 10min of being on the water, excited for our 10mile drift down the beautiful river, the storms came.

Oh, how fitting!!! When we expect all things to go smoothly, storms come.

The rain fell furiously on us. The thunder pierced our ears and the lightening gave off these quick bright moments of fear. It wasn’t bad at first. We were excited to be in such chaos. But, it was relentless. We got cold, and Hammer shivered and retreated into himself. Unable to move, he sat there defeated. Princess took the lead and shined in her strength to persevere through the storm. Daddy bailed out rain as best as he could so our raft wouldn’t flood. I helped as best as I could, but mostly prayed. Singing to the King, and thinking about the storms of our lives.

Will you sing through the storm or will you allow it to defeat you??

How often do we say, I can take it. AND then it comes, and doesn’t stop, doesn’t relent. And we find ourselves retreating into ourselves, screaming I’m done!!

Eventually we made it to the cliffs and the rain stopped. Hammer found new life and was ready to have some fun. He jumped with Daddy twice. Princess shied away from this challenge. I marveled at how different, and unique they were from each other.

We enjoyed the cascading waterfalls the storm had created.

 

The sun then peered out through the clouds and covered us with warmth.

Sadly, we were back to our car by then and the adventure was over.

There was, of course, a hope that it would have stayed sunny and calm. But then I wouldn’t have a story to share. I’m so grateful for the storms, for the need to go to the KING. To ask for help, to seek deep inside myself for strength,  to overcome fears and to see all of those marvels in my children. To teach them to push and fight through what’s hard.

Thank you for trials. Although I wish they didn’t come,  I am grateful to share them, to not be alone in this battle.

The enemy seeks to destroy us, to dishearten us! Don’t let the storms get you down. Use them as a power connection to your Creator, and to your source of strength.

I had a great video of the waterfall, as well, but it caused water damage to the phone and I was unable to recover it. Guess you’ll have to head for a river trip yourself to check out the intensity!!!

We’re not lost, we’re just wandering! 😁