What I’ve written below digresses from our regular stories about our day-by-day cruising life and deals with our survival of the storm on early Friday morning of June 29.  When I wrote in the heading of our blog early this year, little did I know of the many challenges to mind and soul there would be on this trip. 

Storms of Life

When you go through “storms” during your life, those scary, hurtful, sad, deeply depressing difficult times we’ve all experienced, where do you turn?  Many situations come with unexpected ferociousness catching us unprepared and totally unaware.  For me, just one of many over my lifetime was the death of my grandmother at my house when I was in high school.  She had come for a visit and passed away during the night in the bed I shared with her.  During storms like this we are helpless. There is nothing we can do or say to change the situation.  We had no part in bringing it to pass.  Nothing makes it better or bearable or can change it back to the way it was before.  We can’t ever awake from the bad dream and it be OK.  I just remember during this time simply grabbing hold of God and letting him help me see the positive, deal with the negative, walk me through the storm.  Finding the comfort and peace then led to faith to trust in Him again and again over the years. 

Friday morning, June 30 at 1:00 a.m. Dennis and I went through a horrific storm called a durecho while anchored just off the North Atlantic Ocean in Abescon Inlet off Atlantic City shore, NJ.  During that hour with the winds clocked at 70 miles per hour, we really thought we would probably not survive and that the boat might possibly become our tomb.  There is no way to describe the crashing noises and violent motions of the boat during the storm.  There was no way out, absolutely nothing we could do except believe that if it was our time, pray we were ready, and if not, then believe God would protect and shelter us through this storm.  After seeing the devastation and hearing of how 13 people were killed in a lot safer places than we were, we truly believe that God protected and carried us through this storm, just as He has time and time throughout the years.    

As I laid in the dark after the storm trying to think about what had just happened to us, and what to write, I told God that I really had plenty to write about and didn’t need more ideas.  But then the thought came about how important our faith is to Dennis and me, how time and time again God has protected and brought us through difficult and dangerous situations on this cruise.  So yes, maybe we did need this story to share how He’s been aboard all along.       

(See the June 30 blog for details of the storm and the link below for pictures and article)