In mid-April, we in Ontario, Canada, experienced an ice storm that lasted three days and covered the previously showing grass with snow and then freezing rain. Over that same period, our mountain ash tree was inundated with robins that had just returned from their winter home. They huddled in the branches and nibbled on the dried-up berries from last summer. Sometimes, they even huddled by the front porch to escape the ice and snow. At times, we had upwards of twenty robins at once, whereas we usually have only one or two on the lawn at any one time. I always have water for them in a heated bird bath.

A week later, the robins were gone, and so were the berries. I am so glad that we were able to provide a refuge for the birds, with the heated water and the berries on the tree. It wasn't until after the storm was over and the robins had left that I read that robins eat berries rather than seeds, and that robins in the area had died due to lack of food as a result of the storm. Usually the berries from our tree are gone by the end of January, yet here in mid-April, they were still on the tree.

I believe that God had a plan for the trees to still have the berries in mid-April. God knew that there was a need to provide food in April for the robins. Man could not have known in January that we would be getting an April storm that would affect the robins that had just returned to Canada from their winter home.

I also believe that God had a plan for me in this storm and the fact that I had just had surgery: I have had to stop running and just sit. I've been running from the storms of life for some time, and it's time to stop and huddle into God's protection and love and not try to do it on my own. I need to make amends in relationships that have become strained or dormant.

What about you? Do you run in a storm, or do you huddle down like the birds did and ride it out in the palms of God's hands?

Matthew 6:25-26 – Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? (NIV)

God provides a refuge for us daily, and all we need to do is to go to Him. We don't need to panic; we just need to turn to Him and acknowledge our need for Him. As the verse says, He cares about the birds, so why not let Him care for you?

Jeremiah 29:11 – "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (NIV)

Prayer: Dear Jesus, we are sorry that at times that we run from the people whom You provide to walk alongside us. Just as the Scriptures say, You have plans for us. You care for the birds, and You care for us. In our weakness, make us strong in You, and help us to seek Your protection in the storms of life, for You will see us through them. In Your name, we pray. Amen.

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About the author:

Julie Bowles <julieanni@rogers.com>
Barrie, Ontario, Canada
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