Can You Sleep While The Wind Blows
CAN YOU SLEEP WHILE THE WIND BLOWS?
“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.’” Psalm 91:1-2
Enjoy this week’s blog from our very own Deb McClellan.
There is a story told of long ago of a farmer who owned land along the Atlantic seacoast. He constantly advertised for hired hands. Most people were reluctant to work on farms along the Atlantic. They dreaded the awful storms that raged across the Atlantic, wreaking havoc on the buildings and crops. As the farmer interviewed applicants for the job, he received a steady stream of refusals.
Finally, a short, thin man, well past middle age, approached the farmer. “Are you a good farm hand?” the farmer asked him? “Well, I can sleep when the wind blows,” answered the little man. Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate for help, hired him. The little man worked well around the farm, busy from dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt satisfied with the man’s work. Then one night the wind howled loudly in from offshore. Jumping out of bed, the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed next door to the hired hand’s sleeping quarters. He shook the little man and yelled, “Get up! A storm is coming! Tie things down before they blow away!” The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly, “No sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows.”
Enraged by the response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot. Instead, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm. To his amazement, he discovered that all of the haystacks had been covered with tarpaulins. The cows were in the barn, the chickens were in the coops, and the doors were barred. The shutters were tightly secured. Everything was tied down.
Nothing could blow away. The farmer then understood what his hired hand meant, so he returned to his bed to also sleep while the wind blew.
Dale and I came from a factory background. Anyone who’s worked in that environment knows that to run a factory smoothly and get the product out the door, you must perform the necessary preventative maintenance on the machinery.
Our heart needs a preventative maintenance program so we can sleep while the wind blows. Medical science has taught us how to care and protect our physical heart. Watch our blood pressure, watch our cholesterol, exercise, eat right, lose weight, then there’s all the pills! Sometimes we follow the doctor’s advice and sometimes we don’t. Sometimes the heart gives out because we didn’t do our preventive maintenance on the body. Surgery can fix a lot, but not always, and then we can find ourselves in a “crisis management” mode.
“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26
When Jesus saves us He gives us a new heart. He removes the one that is worn out from sin, and gives us a new one - pliable, soft, and sensitive to His words. God is that preventative maintenance in our lives. Jesus comes and cleans us, tightens the loose areas of our lives, and the Holy Spirit is the oil that keeps us lubed and running smoothly, and He's the healing balm in times of hurt and pain. He makes our hearts sensitive so we can hear His voice even over the raging winds of our life.
If you have given your heart to Him, you can “sleep while the wind blows.” If you have not given your heart to Jesus you can’t possibly know the peace and protection that only the Lord gives. No matter how hard the wind blows through our lives, He will be there, guiding, directing, and being there in good times and bad, sickness and health…literally until “death do us part.”
The Holy Spirit is like that really good insulation you put in your house - the storms may rage outside but you are cozy and warm inside. The more insulation we put in our house, all the better. The more of God’s word we put in our hearts, the more protected we will be from the storms of life. The Holy Spirit insulates our hearts so no outside forces can come in and damage us.
God can channel those windstorms in our lives to strengthen us, just like the old oak tree that’s weathered many storms! Every time we go through a windstorm and trust Him, it strengthens our faith for the next time and then soon those terrible wind gusts will seem like nothing more than a gentle breeze.
God bless you!
Deb
“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.’” Psalm 91:1-2
Enjoy this week’s blog from our very own Deb McClellan.
There is a story told of long ago of a farmer who owned land along the Atlantic seacoast. He constantly advertised for hired hands. Most people were reluctant to work on farms along the Atlantic. They dreaded the awful storms that raged across the Atlantic, wreaking havoc on the buildings and crops. As the farmer interviewed applicants for the job, he received a steady stream of refusals.
Finally, a short, thin man, well past middle age, approached the farmer. “Are you a good farm hand?” the farmer asked him? “Well, I can sleep when the wind blows,” answered the little man. Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate for help, hired him. The little man worked well around the farm, busy from dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt satisfied with the man’s work. Then one night the wind howled loudly in from offshore. Jumping out of bed, the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed next door to the hired hand’s sleeping quarters. He shook the little man and yelled, “Get up! A storm is coming! Tie things down before they blow away!” The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly, “No sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows.”
Enraged by the response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot. Instead, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm. To his amazement, he discovered that all of the haystacks had been covered with tarpaulins. The cows were in the barn, the chickens were in the coops, and the doors were barred. The shutters were tightly secured. Everything was tied down.
Nothing could blow away. The farmer then understood what his hired hand meant, so he returned to his bed to also sleep while the wind blew.
Dale and I came from a factory background. Anyone who’s worked in that environment knows that to run a factory smoothly and get the product out the door, you must perform the necessary preventative maintenance on the machinery.
Our heart needs a preventative maintenance program so we can sleep while the wind blows. Medical science has taught us how to care and protect our physical heart. Watch our blood pressure, watch our cholesterol, exercise, eat right, lose weight, then there’s all the pills! Sometimes we follow the doctor’s advice and sometimes we don’t. Sometimes the heart gives out because we didn’t do our preventive maintenance on the body. Surgery can fix a lot, but not always, and then we can find ourselves in a “crisis management” mode.
“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26
When Jesus saves us He gives us a new heart. He removes the one that is worn out from sin, and gives us a new one - pliable, soft, and sensitive to His words. God is that preventative maintenance in our lives. Jesus comes and cleans us, tightens the loose areas of our lives, and the Holy Spirit is the oil that keeps us lubed and running smoothly, and He's the healing balm in times of hurt and pain. He makes our hearts sensitive so we can hear His voice even over the raging winds of our life.
If you have given your heart to Him, you can “sleep while the wind blows.” If you have not given your heart to Jesus you can’t possibly know the peace and protection that only the Lord gives. No matter how hard the wind blows through our lives, He will be there, guiding, directing, and being there in good times and bad, sickness and health…literally until “death do us part.”
The Holy Spirit is like that really good insulation you put in your house - the storms may rage outside but you are cozy and warm inside. The more insulation we put in our house, all the better. The more of God’s word we put in our hearts, the more protected we will be from the storms of life. The Holy Spirit insulates our hearts so no outside forces can come in and damage us.
God can channel those windstorms in our lives to strengthen us, just like the old oak tree that’s weathered many storms! Every time we go through a windstorm and trust Him, it strengthens our faith for the next time and then soon those terrible wind gusts will seem like nothing more than a gentle breeze.
God bless you!
Deb
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