Straight from an Empowered Heart
By Lisa Elliott

I recently had an experience like none I’ve ever had. It took place on a beautiful, sunny day. Although notably more hot and humid than normal for early spring, this fair-weather girl certainly wasn’t complaining.

After a leisurely walk around the quaint tree-lined path that surrounds our neighbourhood, I came home and began my Saturday house-tidying routine. I was spreading freshly cleaned sheets on my bed when I looked outside my bedroom window and realized I couldn't actually see outside my bedroom window. It was like I was in the middle of a carwash, minus the suds--and suddenly minus power.

Unwisely, I stepped toward the window. Something any weather-watcher would warn me against amid a storm of this apparent magnitude. Through the gusting gale force wind and pounding rain smacking and smearing across the windowpane I could faintly make out the foggy figures of trees completely bent over sideways. Alarming! Then I spotted someone’s trampoline and lawn furniture that had escaped their backyard, bolting down the fence in its way and was splayed across the road in front of our house. Powerless to do anything but pick my jaw up off the ground, I stood and waited for the Wicked Witch of the West to come riding by on her bicycle turned broomstick.

The storm only lasted about ten minutes. Once it passed, the sun shone brightly again and everything was calm. Everything, that is, except for the chaos, confusion, and devastation that was left in its wake. Not to mention, we were left powerless.

An inventory walk later on, had us discover trees uprooted and strewn across our neighbourhood. Gone was our beautiful walking path. When we were able to get cell reception, damage was reported not only in our little neighbourhood, but everywhere around our city and across our entire province. In fact, we learned that the extent of the damage was unlike any other disaster the Nation’s capital had seen, including the 1998 ice storm and the 2018 tornadoes that wreaked havoc.

We eventually learned that the cause of all the commotion was called a “derecho” which, according to Wikipedia is: a widespread, long-lived, straight-line wind storm that is associated with a fast-moving group of severe thunderstorms. Derechos can cause hurricanic or tornadic-force winds, actual tornadoes, heavy rains, and flash floods.

Our power outage lasted for several days. That meant no hot water, no refrigeration or oven or television or internet or any other modern convenience. Good thing we're campers from way back. We got resourceful. And, thankfully, our next door neighbour eventually got access to a generator and graciously offered it to us to plug into. In fact, that's how I'm writing this blog! We quickly learned how much we rely upon power for sustenance, survival, and communication...not to mention convenience. Without power we are... well... powerless!

The whole experience reminded me not only of how little power we have but also, of who is actually in charge of the power—that is, the Almighty, all-powerful God. He is, in fact, our ultimate power source.

Jeremiah acknowledged Him as such, “Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you” (Jeremiah 32:17).

There is an entire discourse between Job and the Almighty God.

Then Job replied to the Lord: “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.’” (Job 42:1-3).

The prophet, Isaiah also had his take in Isaiah 40:10-31. An excerpt reads as follows:

“See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm. … Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance? … Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust. … Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded? He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff. “To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

Here’s the good news of our all-powerful God, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6). Furthermore, “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness” (2 Peter 1:3).

Why not tap into His divine power today?

About this Contributor:

Lisa Elliott is an inspirational speaker and award-winning author of The Ben Ripple, Dancing in the Rain, and A Ministry Survival Guide. She’s also a writer for Just Between Us Magazine, theStory, and Good Ground. She and her pastor-husband, David, have four children (three on earth, one in heaven) and serve the Lord together in Ottawa, ON, Canada.