What does it look like to let God prevail in your life? It looks like putting your faith and trust in God regardless of the situation. It looks like listening to the promptings from God and following them exactly. It looks like always being prepared for any possible scenario.
My family and I live in Salem, Oregon. In the latter part of the summer of 2020 we were scheduled to leave for a family vacation to the Oregon coast for a week. A couple days before we left, I learned of a severe windstorm in Santiam Canyon. Fires were already burning and were predicted to spread quickly and wildly. The morning that we were scheduled to leave for the beach, we woke up to a glowing red sky and ash falling all over our house and property. We had planned on leaving that morning around 9:00 but were filled with anxiety and doubt about the decision; not knowing what would become of our house and property if we left. We decided to hold off for a few hours to see what would happen. As the morning progressed, the sky became increasingly red and the ash was falling more rapidly. Even though it was late morning, it looked like late evening. We turned the sprinklers on to try to keep the grass wet on the off chance something sparked.
After a few more hours had gone by we decided that we needed to put our faith and trust in God and continue our plans as scheduled. If something were to happen there would be little we could do about it anyway. If we stayed, there was also the possibility of putting our lives at risk if the fire moved quickly into our area. Our car was already packed with clothes and other essentials. Before leaving, we gathered in our home for a family prayer. We asked God to watch over and protect our home and personal property. Even though these are just "things," they have value to us, and a loving God cares about every aspect of our lives. We chose to let God prevail in this situation. He already knew the outcome, and what was going to happen would happen either way. We were grateful that upon our return that our house was still intact and all was well. I know others who were not as fortunate and lost everything. Why them and not us? Only God can answer that question.
Fast forward about six months. It was mid February 2021 and an ice storm was forecasted. But first let me take you back to May 2020. Long ago my wife, Linda, and I decided to always be prepared for each possible scenario that could come our way. We've prayed to have God instruct us and guide us in our emergency preparation. In my opinion, the most valuable resource in any emergency situation is water. We have a well on our property with a submersible pump, but I received a prompting that we needed to install a hand pump on our well. However, due to the well's current setup with the well casing below grade, we had to first make the necessary upgrades to our well and had the casing extended above ground level. We also had things arranged inside the casing that would allow for a hand pump to be installed alongside the submersible pump. In late October 2020 we had the hand pump installed not knowing if and when we would ever need to use this thing. It came at a great expense to do this - in total the project cost $4,500. Of course, we could have always used that money for something else. But God knew what was to come.
Then the ice storm hits in February 2021. The power goes out. Tree limbs were breaking off all night. It sounded like a war zone. Honestly, I was concerned for our house again. Our house is surrounded by some pretty big Douglas fir trees. Some are six feet in diameter at the base. The next morning after the power went out, we got our generator set up to use for our refrigerator and freezers. Then we started filling buckets with water so that we could flush toilets and have water to drink, cook and bathe with. I wasn't sure when we would need to use our hand pump when we first had it installed, but I am so thankful that I listened to the promptings to have it installed. We were without power for 11 days. Even though it was difficult, we still felt prepared and believe that we passed that test.
This is another example of letting God prevail. He can see both sides of the veil when we are only limited to the view on this side. Honestly, that can be frustrating at times, but part of our test in mortality is to learn to trust God and let Him prevail in our lives.
Submitted by Andrew Stahr from Salem, OR
April 2021
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