The Hand by Which the Wind Blows
On faithfulness and trust in the storms of life
The wind was a wild ocean last night, waves of roaring gusts surging through the woods and bending cedars and firs into low bows, subservient to the driving rain. I awoke just before three in the morning, that mystical hour, and gazed through the slider at autumn leaves blasting off the maples like confetti. I wondered if our generator was ready, if our gasoline cans were full of fresh fuel. Snug and warm in my cedar cabin, I wondered if I were ready for anything at all, a multitude of wet realities pelting upon the rooftop.
In case you blessedly have been asleep, we are no longer a Christian nation, asleep in the mild weather of ease. Of course, we could quibble whether we ever truly were, I have my own grim doubts, to begin with, but certainly society and culture borrowed from Biblical principles of justice, charity, order, and family. And I hardly need to soil this essay with examples of where we are today. You already know. You’ve been watching from the inside, too.
The storm upon us all hasn’t arrived as a sudden and unforeseen misery; many have, in fact, even over the last century raised the alarm from a variety of observatories. But the beer was good and the flag was high and our own autonomous selves became idols easily fed by propaganda and progress. Progress towards what, very few dared to ask, cancel culture and all that rot.
Not that we, faithful Bible readers, are surprised. For the Lord God cannot lie, and we’ve been promised heaviness and trials, wars and rumors of wars, commotions and persecutions, minds surrounding us given over to insanity and great wickedness, and even more so as we near the end (that blessed end! Come, Lord Jesus!). Even in our innocence, those forces beyond our jurisdiction bringing upon us that which we have zero control over, much like the effect of shouting upon the wind to be still, the best we can do is to continue to walk faithfully with our God, and to suffer well and for His glory.
Still. We not only affirm the storm. We prepare the generator.
We also proclaim Christ, endeavoring to save some, even as the smell of sulfur hangs about. We honor our marriage vows, and raise up our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. We continue to work with our hands, living quiet lives, and as much as is possible, in peace with everyone. If the Lord indeed through repentance and faith provides us a house on the Rock, we are then thoroughly equipped to seek the peace of our city through service and prayer, recognizing that, regardless of outcomes, all flesh is as grass, and the time of His appearing grows ever near.
Preparations for the battles ahead (you do believe there will be ever more, greater battles, yes?) begin with the courage to face the truth of the fight, and giving it a sober nod. We also do well to remember our real enemies are principalities and powers, and to adjust our armor as necessary—daily-to strengthen our resolve.
How practically do we prepare? We begin by shoring up our foundation, by relying upon the Holy Spirit to bless our earnest and diligent Bible reading with supernatural wisdom and the peace that surpasses all understanding. We pray as we’ve been taught by the Lord Himself, and pray for whom we’ve been commanded to pray for (yes, even those who ignite and drive the fires of our own destruction). We commune with our faithful and local church, and strengthen the ties of fellowship, in person, regularly.
We also prepare for a continued degradation in civility, loss of love for neighbor (truly, even a defense of his or her very existence!) and other Christian morals, for the seeds of post-modernism has come to fruit and its crop is deadly, indeed. There seems no fence to contain the chaos of even our language, and most of us are not bothered enough to lift our heads from our smartphones or to turn off our televisions to even take note of the scent of death.
Practically speaking, after getting the foundation of Truth and Reality shored up, it’s important to keep our hands to the plow and continue to work we’ve been called to. For me, as a keeper of the home, my eyes are to the well being of my household. Here are some areas that I am concerned about and working to bolster, to the best of my ability. I understand your list may differ, but I offer it here for consideration, in the form of questions for reflection, followed by several resources that may be helpful to you (some links are affiliate links). Feel free to add to this essay via the commments, with your own questions or resources you find particularly helpful.
💠How well is your foundation? Do you truly understand the gospel and have full assurance of your standing with God? Are you ready to die?
Read: The Gospel Primer
Join: a solid and faithful local church
💠How will you procure or sell goods if you have no access to your money, or if you are unable to earn as much as you need? Do you have means of barter? Have you considered Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency? Is all of your income dependent upon one source?
Read: Broken Money
Listen: What is Money, first 6-7 episodes
💠How will you feed your family if the grocery store shelves are empty? Will you garden or raise livestock? Do you know how? Do you know and have relationships with local farmers? Do you know how to harvest, and/or preserve, food to put aside? How long could your family comfortably eat if you were stuck at home?
Read: Growing and Canning with Jackie Clay
Learn to cook: Nourishing Traditions
💠Do you have access to clean water? What if the water supply goes down? If you’re on a well, are you reliant upon the power grid to get water from it? Do you have a way of filtering water?
Consider: a Berkey Water filter
💠Do you know how to administer simple, and then as you learn, complex, first aid? How is your first aid supply? Do you have resources to help you know what to do? How about severe digestive pain? Or dental care without a dentist? Who do you know who could help you?
Read: 10 Essential Herbs
Watch: 7Song Herbal First Aid Course
💠How secure is your home? Do you have major areas that are needing repair or replacement? How long could you run your home without power? Do you have alternative means for heat and cooling?
Read: The Prepper’s Blueprint
💠If your cell phone lost coverage, how would you communicate with others? Do you have a landline, or other means of contact?
Watch: Basics of getting into HAM radio
💠How confident are you in self defense? Or in defending your family from wild predators or criminals?
Train: We the Female
There is a lot to think about, and we should think about it even if our lives are peaceable to our last breath. Thankfully there are many resources for any area(s) we are lacking in whereby we can learn; I would encourage you to pursue and learn from them.
It is not the first time in history where our work needs to be done with a trowel in one hand and a sword in the other. Let us be faithful to show up and do the work we are called to do, even as we understand the Hand by which the wind blows.
I do want to learn more on these topics. As thank you for the links. Prior to getting pregnant I was trying to delve into the world of alternative ways to support myself should the world go awry but had a hard time trying to balance what it meant to be prepared without being paranoid and obsessive over it all. Out of the list you made the only one I’m confident in is my foundation in God. Now that I’m raising a baby I just feel accomplished if I was able to be present with my child all day and have dinner ready for my husband at 5pm lol. Where did you first start with all this without feeling overwhelmed? Did you ever struggle with fear, in regards to prepping, should there come a time we have to rely on means to survive?