Maybe it’s Tragedy…

I could NOT believe my eyes, what was once a beautiful canopy of shade trees, vines, bushes, and ground cover was gone. The shelter of the Majestic Oaks is gone! I ran with my bestie and I kept saying, “Margaret I cannot believe this, this is so sad. It is unrecognizable.”

As we ran the Pathfinder where the tornado hit in early May, I could not believe my eyes. I knew this trail so well, it has been a part of my life for 20+ years and now it barely even looks like the same place. The sun now shines on the path, there are trees down all over, and the WHOLE terrain has been completely transformed.

I teased Margaret that I was going to get some new great stories out of this! Immediately I started thinking about what was my beautiful familiar path and how it had been completely changed.

As I ponder the complete transformation of the pathfinder, I of course started thinking about the tornadoes that hit our lives. Tragedy, suffering, and death hit our lives, and as much as we “prepare” or even have a safety plan, no one can control the rain. No one can control the storms that hit our lives.

I am sure you have lived through one or been affected by one.

As I took in the new terrain of the path, I could not believe how different it looked. The same place but unrecognizable.

It made me think of the many people I have encountered who desperately want change in their lives. They want to deal with their trauma differently, they want solutions to the anxiety they live with, they want to calm their busy mind, they want peace internally, they don’t want to deal with depression, they want peace in their marriage or a family relationship, and it made me think about how sometimes for change to occur, you need a tornado.

Sometimes the only way things can change in our lives is through destruction, cutting, tearing, uprooting, sawing, cutting, or complete elimination.

When this happens it is complete shock, it seems like the worst thing, it seems like hell on earth, it seems like the greatest tragedy, but I can guarantee you, that this tornado will produce and recreate so much beauty in your life if you allow the process to do its work.

Our brains are so incredible that they actually will begin to do the work on their own. Look at this from some research from Colorado State University, “ Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural pathways throughout life and in response to experiences. While the brain usually does this itself in response to injury or disease, when humans focus their attention enough, they can slowly rewire these pathways themselves.” (May 31, 2022)

For a little while life is going to look like a complete disaster, like destruction, but my dear, true transformation is coming.

Uproot those bad habits, look at those trauma triggers, change some thought processes, try something new, pray, surrender, give attention to the areas that need healing because if nothing changes… NOTHING changes.

I am a living testimony of the power of death that brings new life, of beauty being made from ashes, of light that comes after darkness, of growth that springs forth after the fields have all been burned.

The tornados of our lives will hit so unexpectedly you will NEVER be PREPARED, no that is not how life works, but you can have confidence, my dear, that all things will be made new.

New growth will come, new joy will bloom and you can have NEW life.

I want this for you my dear, I want you to embrace the pain, the pressure, the tearing, the devastation that will change every fiber of your being.

Just as the psalmist cried, so shall it be for you…- ² O Lord my God, I pleaded with you, and you gave me my health again. ³ You brought me back from the brink of the grave, from death itself, and here I am alive!

⁴ Oh, sing to him you saints of his; give thanks to his holy name. ⁵ His anger lasts a moment; his favor lasts for life! Weeping may go on all night, but in the morning there is joy.”

Health, life, and joy will be yours again my dear, I am with you on the journey, let us be transformed together.

From my heart to yours…