# Thunder, Twisters, and Trust Children’s Corner Language: en Author: by Eileen Wenger Dalton, OH Original issue: The Heartbeat of the Remnant, Summer 2023, Number 2 Source pages: 14–15 Read article: Original PDF: Summer\-2023\-Remnant\-web\.pdf [The Heartbeat of the Remnant, Summer 2023]() “My, it’s warm\!” exclaimed Mom\. “A nice, good rain is what we need to cool things off a bit\.” It was Saturday, near the end of June, and the weather had been particularly hot and humid that day\. Ellie’s mother had been cleaning the house and preparing some food for the company that was invited to come for lunch on Sunday after church\. As the afternoon moved into early evening, it felt like it became even hotter, and no breezes were to be found\. Ellie’s father was resting in a hammock out on the lawn while the rest of the family tried to find the most comfortable place to seek relief from the heat\. As evening approached, so did the clouds\. They arrived suddenly, along with gusts of wind that began to stir up the dust\. Lightning started to flash across the sky and the thunder rumbled in the distance\. “Quickly, children\!” called Mom\. “Put away your toys; it’s about to storm\!” Ellie looked around in alarm\. It was getting dark very quickly and the sky looked strange—almost angry\. She quickly gathered up her playthings and hurried into the house\. Dad was no longer sleeping on the hammock\. The wind had almost toppled it over and him along with it\! He, too, hurried into the house; the wind causing the door to slam violently behind him\. The family gathered on the sunporch to watch the approaching storm\. There were windows to the west and south, so they had a good vantage point from which to watch the coming rain\. The wind was blowing with a force that Ellie had never experienced in all her seven years\. She noted the concern and alarm on her parents’ faces as they watched and waited\. Then it began to rain\. Great sheets of rain were being driven against the windows and Ellie wondered if it was possible that it was raining hard enough to break the glass\. “What was that?” exclaimed Mom as suddenly, a sheet of tin whizzed past the sunporch windows and disappeared beyond the garden\. “I think it’s part of the garage roof,” said Dad in disbelief while peering cautiously through the windows\. Upon hearing this, Mom directed the children to stand by the cellar door\. If things got worse, down they would go\! Ellie felt so scared\. What was going to happen to them? Would their house blow away? Would any of them get hurt? As abruptly as the storm began, it calmed\. The wind stopped, the rain slowed, and very soon the sun was shining again\. The family cautiously ventured outdoors to see what all had happened during the storm\. “Look\!” said Dad\. “The garage roof is gone and so is the south wall\!” “Why does Gerald’s house look so strange?” Mom pointed toward their next\-door neighbors\. “Why, look\! The entire roof is gone from their house\!” Indeed, the roof had been cleanly stripped away and the gable ends stoically stood there, holding up nothing\. The wail of sirens could be heard in the distance and as they looked around the neighborhood, they could see smoke just beyond some trees\. “That’s got to be Melvin’s barn burning\!” exclaimed Dad\. “I’m going to go see what I can do to help\.” He raced for his truck and was soon hurrying out the driveway\. The winds had been so strong that some electric poles were blown over causing the electricity to be disconnected so there were no lights or fans\. After the storm had passed the humidity and heat had returned making the night hot and muggy\. Yet the grown\-ups from the area worked long into the night, helping each other to clean up what they could of the storm damage\. Of special interest was our neighbor Melvin\. His barn had collapsed on top of dozens of cattle and then a fire had broken out\. The neighbor men tried desperately to rescue what cattle they could, but in the end, many of the steers could not be saved\. Sunday came, but no one went to church\. The morning was spent over at Melvin’s, hauling away dead cattle, clearing away burnt hay, and simply just being there for one another\. It was hard, grim work\. Ellie clearly remembers how awful the smell was\. And she could barely bring herself to watch the loading up of the dead steers\. When lunch time came, their company arrived, but no one was very hungry\. Ellie’s younger brother sobbed, “All I can think about is those poor steers\!” Ellie was surprised how powerful a storm could be\. And scary\! Would they experience another twister? Might more buildings collapse, and another barn or house burn down? A seed of fear began to grow in Ellie’s heart\. Throughout that summer and for many summers after, every time the rumble of thunder was heard or she heard the words “tornado warning”, her heart would beat faster, and a knot would settle in her stomach\. How she dreaded each storm\! She wished they would all just pass by their home\. Why did God allow storms, anyway? “You need to trust God, Ellie,” her mother would say\. “He’s the One who made the weather, and He is in control of everything that happens\. He might not always keep us from experiencing frightening times, but He is always there to take care of us\.” As she grew older, Ellie learned to take this advice to heart\. Her fear of storms faded, and, in its place, she developed a fascination with how storms develop and form\. Knowing that God is the Master of the wind is still a comfort and an assurance to her\. Most of all, as she has learned to trust God in every area of her life, she has found Him to always be faithful\. Learning to replace fear with trust always brings peace to the heart\. ![]()