Betty rubbed her eyes. My, what a noise! Claps of thunder seemed to be shaking the whole world, and during the vivid flashes of lightning she could see the trees swaying and bending before the wind.
“Mother,” she called, “the rain is blowing in on my bed!”
“Close the window and come, you may get in bed with me,” Mother answered.
As Betty jumped out of bed to obey she found her brother Bob beside her. “Here, I'll close it for you,” he said, and quickly drew the window down. A scamper of feet and Betty and Bob were in bed with Mother!
Betty and Bob were not afraid of the storm, for they were both saved, and knew the One whom the “winds and waves obey”! But it was nice and cozy to be in bed with Mother! As they listened to the raging outside they could hear the crash of trees falling now and then, for their house was right in the midst of a big woods.
“I hope those three Popple trees to the north of the porch don't fall, Mother,” Bob suddenly said. “They're right in the path of the wind and they'll surely smash our roof if they do fall!”
“Let's tell the Lord about it,” Mother answered, and together they prayed. Then before they slept they repeated together, “I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for Thou, Lord, only makest me to dwell in safety” (Psalm 4:88I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety. (Psalm 4:8)).
The next morning, shortly after they were up, Bob called from outdoors, “Mother! Betty! Come out here a minute!”
They found Bob beside the twisted stumps of the three trees that they had prayed about the night before. “Just look!” Bob exclaimed, “they did fall—but right away from the house instead of toward it! See the fibers of wood here where they broke off. It looks as though they began to fall toward the house, and then twisted completely around and fell against the wind!”
As Mother and Betty looked closely too, Mother nodded her head as she smiled and answered, “It looks as though you are right, Bob! We asked the Lord to care for us, and this is just another time that the wind 'obeyed His voice'! What a wonderful God we have!”
A great and terrible storm is coming some day, perhaps soon! It is the storm of God's wrath and judgment, but Betty and Bob will not need to fear that either for they will be safe in the Lord Jesus whom they have learned to love and trust. Will you, too?
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation (judgment); but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24)).