[pinit]Do you ever wish the weather would cooperate with you plans? You know, not rain when you have plans outdoors. If you live in Florida, you know what I’m talking about. The Sunshine State sometimes likes to rain.. A LOT. And, this has the potential to impede upon your outdoor activities.. if you let it. What do I mean by that? Well.. since I was in my early twenties, when it comes to the weather, I have had what I use to call.. “connections with the Man upstairs.” Now I call it Favor. 😉 I’ll explain..
I used to work for the Clerk of the Circuit Court in downtown Tampa. And, when you work in downtown, you oftentimes leave your car in a parking lot blocks and blocks away from your office. So, therefore it would be less than ideal to have to make that walk after work in the pouring rain. And, there is a certain time of year in Florida where it seems to always rain in the afternoon every single day. And, what would happen everyday right before 5pm, when we all got off work, it would be raining and people would start complaining. And, I would say day in and day out.. “You just watch, the rain is going to stop for me.” People would always laugh and joke and of course not believe it. But, then day after day, when I got ready to leave, the rain would stop for me. Now fast forward a few years..
When I was planning our wedding in 2010, we did not have a lot of money. So, I was looking for the cheapest time of year to get married. And, in Florida, that is in August. Why? Because it is the hottest month of the year and also tends to be one of the rainiest. Well I knew I had favor with the weather, so I wasn’t worried about it. I had found the perfect outdoor gazebo to get married at, so I knew God would take care of the rest.
And, He did.
When we were coming up to the wedding date, all of the weather reports showed rain. Lots of rain. And, man oh man was it HOT outside! So, naturally everyone started questioning me.. “What is your backup plan?” “Are you going to have the wedding inside?”.. I mean, it felt like everyday someone was asking about my “backup” plan. I just laughed.. until I got frustrated that is. And, I politely explained that I don’t need a backup plan. God knows I want to get married under the gazebo outside, so He will make everything perfect. We then came to our rehearsal dinner where everyone was complaining about how hot it was going to be.. blah, blah, blah. I again told everybody.. Look, I don’t want to sweat and Matt doesn’t want to sweat, so the weather will be perfect. I promise it will not be too hot. Then the next day came. The wedding was at 7pm.
And, a few hours before the ceremony, the rains came. I mean, torrential downpour. It was storming so bad, that people were calling and wanting to know if the ceremony was still going on. Did I come up with a backup plan? Absolutely not! I calmly proceeded to get ready for my outdoor wedding ceremony. And, 10 minutes before any of the guests got there, THE RAIN STOPPED. But, guess what the rain did? It cooled down the weather to the most perfect temperature and no one was sweating! And, we had the most beautiful, perfect outdoor wedding ceremony! 🙂 How awesome is that?! Well was that just a coincidence? I assure you not. I have been doing this with the weather ever since. And, it happens all the time.
Just last week, Matt and I had scheduled a safari tour from 4-5 in the afternoon. This is the time of year where it rains almost everyday. And, the day of the safari was no exception. It had rained for days and that morning it was very cloudy. So, just for kicks I checked the weather app.
Did you notice anything? Every other hour, and for the next 5 days, it was showing rain. That is except for the time of our tour which was between 4-5. Now, I think God did this just to give me a sign that He’s got my back. Because when we left the house that day, the skies were dark as can be and it was pouring down rain. I’m pretty sure that most people would have tried to cancel their tour. But, not us! As we were driving, I simply looked at the rainy skies and thanked God for clear skies on our tour. And, at the exact time I showed my gratitude for what I had already asked God for, something awesome happened. (Hint- there is a lesson in that.) As, soon as I said “Thank You God for the clear skies”, we took a slight turn on the interstate, and the skies cleared!! I took a picture as soon as this happened. And, you can see in the picture below, there was still rain drops on the windshield when the sun started shining through. 😉
We went on to enjoy the safari with not even one rain drop!
Well ladies, this happens to me ALL the time. I’ll share one more recent story from this past Saturday. The grandparents were watching Eli, so Matt and I decided to take the dogs on one of our favorite trails that we hadn’t been on in awhile. Well, right before we left, it started raining. So, my husband started checking the weather at the location of the trail. He couldn’t find anything conclusive. So, I just said, “Well why don’t we just ask God for clear skies?” So, that’s what we did.. and on we went. We arrived at the trail and although it had been raining for most of the drive, it wasn’t raining there. Just then, two girls and their dogs just got back to their car and they were drenched! They proceeded to tell me that it had been pouring while they were on the trail, but it just stopped! Imagine that, I said. Perfect timing.. once again. 🙂 I just smiled and thanked God again for the clear skies. 🙂
Do any of you have an awesome story about the Favor of God? I would love to hear them! 🙂
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