Fear Not For I Am With You

I thought it was over. The skies were clear when I decided to give my son a bath. Once again, he fought me. There wasn't enough water in the tub. There was too much water in the tub. He wanted bubbles...but not the Cars bubbles...he wanted the Dora bubbles. I was starting to feel a little overwhelmed with his demands. After the fifth time of me telling him to get himself clean with the soap, I got a call from my mom saying that there was a tornado coming my way. My heart raced as I rushed my son out of the tub so I could drain it & we could hop back in & take cover. Luckily, I still had an emergency bag in the hallway from last week's storm scare. Trying to explain what was happening and staying calm at the same time was a struggle. I hate tornadoes. Always have. And quite possibly always will. The hatred for these kind of storms has grown deeper since my son was born. I want to protect him. This momma lion was ready to protect him at all costs last night. My son wasn't too happy about having to get out of the tub to get dried off and ready for shelter. The battle started. As I was drying him off, he pushed and squirmed. He told me to leave him alone and that he wanted to get back in the tub to get clean (uhmm...hello, kiddo?! what did mommy say like 5 minutes ago?!). After the short battle of getting him to put his underwear on, I was finally able to grab the emergency bag, my purse, my keys, my cell & the charger, some blankets and some pillows. Man, oh, man do I wish we had a bigger tub! It was quite cramped in there. A new battle started with my child in the tub. The toys that I grabbed were not the ones he wanted. As my heart raced some more as the tornado sirens started to blare, I grabbed my son, held him tight and said "We need to pray, Emerson. There is a tornado coming this way. We need to be safe. I need you to trust mommy right now." He finally calmed down a little. We prayed a prayer of safety over our family, friends and ourselves. The sirens went off. But being an Okie and knowing how all of this works from past experience, we stayed in the tub a little bit longer. The sirens went off for a second time. My son mentioned the sound of 'the train'...all I could hear was the siren so I figure that he was talking about that. The storm finally passed us. We were safe. Alive. Well. I don't think my phone has ever had so much activity on it at the same time as it did last night. Text after text. I didn't have service so I couldn't call anyone. Talk about feeling helpless! I didn't want anyone to worry about us since we were fine. Texts from my mom, my dad, my best friends, my church family flooded my phone. And even though I wasn't able to call anyone, I was still able to text them back. I felt the love of my family & friends wrap around Emerson & I last night. I am deeply moved by all the support and concern these wonderful people showed for us. I didn't fully understand the depth of all the concern until this morning when I watched the news. This tornado touched down about a mile from my home. That's a bit too close for comfort. But today more than ever I am thanking God for his protection. I am thanking God for his arms being wrapped around my son & I last night. We still have a job to do while we are here on this earth. And that job is to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ. Thank you, Jesus, for a new day!