We have a gutter in our tree.

It’s so high up that we have not been able to remove it…and it has been there since 2005.

There was a tornado that year in our small town that devastated neighborhoods, left families homeless and sent debris flying for miles.  I remember walking through yards and finding photographs and household items.

When I got home…there was a gutter from someone else’s house…wrapped multiple times around a limb 75 feet in the air.  The tornado did not even come through my neighborhood, so I don’t know how far that piece of metal traveled. It’s a constant reminder of the strength and force of that storm.

I couldn’t help but think of that day when I read this verse…

The Lord has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm… – Nahum 1:3

I have felt like I have been in a bit of a whirlwind myself these days.  Things I normally find security in have been taken from me.  I have been thrown into circumstances where I have absolutely no control.  No longer can I finagle things to work out in a way I think they should.  Everything is spinning around me and I keep reaching out for something to steady me.

However, the things I keep reaching for…they keep moving.

Finances…people…work…Nothing is providing the security that I need.  One by one, the things that I have relied on in the past are proving themselves unreliable.  And doubt has begun to creep in…doubt is an ugly thing.

…for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. – James 1:6

If I don’t know my true source of security…if I have no anchor to hold me in place…if I doubt who is in control of the storm…I will be tossed about by every wind that blows.

However, I do have an anchor…

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure… – Hebrews 6:19

My hope, Jesus, is the anchor for my soul.  He is the source of my comfort and security.  Though storms come and winds blow and earthly things prove themselves unreliable…

Though circumstances arise that are beyond my control…I will not be driven and tossed by the wind for I have this hope as an anchor.  That hope is that the Lord is in control and He will have His way in the whirlwind and in the storm.