Photo by Max LaRochelle on Unsplash
He calms the storm, so that its waves are still. -Psalm 107:29 (NKJ)
Do you like thunderstorms?
When I was a kid, my family lived in an old farmhouse. We couldn’t even imagine having an air conditioner. We depended on the air conditioning of summer breezes through our windows. We didn’t have water piped to our house. We depended on the bounty of the Lord’s rain to fill our cisterns and keep us in the water we needed. If the weather went dry for too long, then we went to a spring around the road from our farm to get water. I don’t remember that happening often, but when it did, we had that spring that never went dry and had water coming out of the side of the cliff right beside a road.
My dad was a farmer. So, he depended on the rain to keep the ponds full for the cows to drink. He depended on the rain to water his crops. And the rains, most always, came on time, especially in the spring and early summer. Late summer and fall, we could expect dry weather.
This year here in Kentucky we had an unusally dry April and May. But then the Lord sent rain and once we got that first shower, it seemed the rains could come easier. My dad always said it was hard for the rain to come when it was dry and easy for it to rain when everything was wet. I’ve seen the truth of that often in my years. Tonight, it is storming and raining here outside my window. Frankie is hiding out in the basement, not at all happy with all the booming going on. I’m just glad he’s decided he’s safe in the basement instead of wanting to climb in the chair with me. He’s too big for a lap dog. Even before my other dog, Marley, lost his hearing ability, he was never afraid of storms or similar loud noises. One dog terrified of storms is enough.
I’m not afraid of storms either. I always sort of liked watching the skies light up and hearing the thunder booms. Well, that is as long as I was in a house or shelter. One night years ago, when my husband had cow trouble, I remember walking through a storm over to where the cow was. The lightning was streaking down. That storm was one I would have rather watched from inside a house! But we survived with the good Lord’s help. I don’t remember for sure about the cow, but I’m hoping she made it through too after we braved the storm to help her.
Maybe I should have included a windy storm in my book, In the Shadow of the River. I can only imagine how scary it might be on a showboat like The Kingston Floating Palace in my story during a storm like this.. The boats, with enough warning that the storm was coming, would try to find a place to tie up and ride it out.
The Next Morning–
I didn’t get this finished last night and woke up this morning to a big limb down in the backyard, but it didn’t take down our electric lines. So that is a blessing. The wind was ferocious at one time in the storm. Made me particularly happy I was watching this storm from inside the house and glad the winds moved on without being worse. On my walk with the dogs out in the field earlier this morning, I didn’t see any other trees or limbs down. I peeked over at the garden. The young corn is blown over but it might straighten back up and the beans look like someone or something ruffled their leaves, but nothing too damaging. Hail did peck on our windows last night but only a little. My hydrangea leaves looked okay. It has the beginning of blooms for the first time this year and I was hoping it wouldn’t be a victim of the storm.
Hope if you were in the path of a storm last night or any time with the winds blowing and thunder thundering, that you will always be safe.
How do you feel about thunder and lightning storms?
Comments 16
I love thunderstorms so long as I’m indoors. The boomier, the better. When we were children, a friend of mine’s grandma was so afraid of storms, she’d make my friend’s family go to the basement and sit on rubber tires.
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My mother-in-law had that kind of fear of storms, but she didn’t have a basement with rubber tires. She would get on a featherbed that she thought would protect her from the lightning.
I’m okay with the booms and the lightning flashes as long as I’m safe inside. Don’t want to see the hail a neighboring community saw last weekend that broken windows and dented roofs and cars.
I lobe the pounding of thunder, the lightning show and the sound & smell of rain
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You sound like a true storm lover, Lisa. I’m okay with most storm noises. Not happy when I hear hail pinging against the windows or when the wind sounds like it might blow everything away. Some people who live not far from our area had those kinds of problems with broken windows and roofs blown off. I like the storms that don’t do damage and just put on a light show and give us needed rain.
I like a good thunderstorm if there is not a lot of wind to it and the lights don’t go out. I love to hear rain pounding on the roof and knowing I’m safe and dry in the house. If I’m already in bed, I like to watch the lightning out the window. We never had any storms last night, but the weather man says there is a good chance we will tonight and may have some heavy wind and rain. I have taken down my hanging baskets of flowers so they won’t swing back and forth and possibly break and fall. I would hate to see them smashed.
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That’s a good plan – to take down your hanging baskets, Connie. I should have done that Sunday night. It was really blowing hard for a little while. Some neighboring areas had a lot of damage from wind and hail. My sill Marley who can’t hear wanted to go out in the middle of the storm. I thought I’d open the door and he’d see that no, he didn’t want to go out. The rain was coming in waves and he walked right out in it. Not because he had to go but because he was thirsty and didn’t want to drink for the water diesh inside. Crazy dog. Crazy me for letting him go out in that. He got soaked in three minutes.
I used to be quite scared of them. My mom told me that it could be because my grandma was scared of them and I spent many summer days and nights with her. But the Lord has helped me to not pass it on to our kids And I’m not so afraid either. I focus more on how this is the working of the Lord.
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Storms are a part of nature designed by the Lord, Shari. My mother-in-law was terrified of storms. She was keeping my kids who were maybe 4 and 6 once when a storm hit and she made them get on the featherbed with her because she thought that was a safe place away from the lightning. The kids were a little confused since I had never acted like there was a problem with storms other than staying inside. Glad you were able to keep from passing on your worry and fear of storms. It’s good to be sensible about storms and realize they need to be respected, but being fearful can be upsetting.
Looking at lightning in the distance, it can look amazing but I am not a fan of storms, especially the thunder booms. It stems from a time in childhood but the fear inside me has never lessened all these years. I don’t like the sound of fireworks either, for the same reason. They are beautiful to watch if I can do so without the sound. I found out last night, my new cat is not a fan either!
Glad you kept your electricity!
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You and Frankie would get along fine, Pamela. He’s no fan of fireworks or thunder either. In fact, he’s probably in for a couple of hard weeks with people in the neighborhood celebrating the Fourth. Those big booms give him fits. I never realized cats were bothered that much by storms until my sister said her cat wasn’t a fan. So you and your new kitty find a way to stay safe and shut out all the booms.
I was the child who was always crying to my parents, “Let’s go to the basement,”whenever a severe storm was approaching . We lived in NE Ohio, an area known as tornado alley. My older siblings made fun of me, especially my closest sister who is only four years older. She would stand out on the porch as lightning was flashing and thunder rumbling and I would be crying to her, “Sharon come in,” afraid she would be struck. Now,at age 69, I’m not so fearful. I can appreciate them from a distance inside the house. I still won’t stand close to a window. In the early years of the Internet I was living near Sandusky Ohio which is very flat. I was out late one night taking care of some horses after midnight and I looked off to the south west and could see lightning flashing in the clouds but couldn’t hear any thunder. When I went back to the house and got online, I saw that Dayton, Ohio was having severe thunderstorms. Every place in between was clear. I was amazed that up there, near Lake Erie, I could see the sky as far as Dayton! I knew I was safe from that storm and it was amazing to watch! God’s handiwork and power are awesome!
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Rebecca, my husband would be right there with you. He’s always fussing about me being more like your sister, Sharon, and always assuming the storm will slide the other way. But your way and my husband’s way would definitely be the wiser way. I usually like to look out a window and not actually be in the midst of the storm. Thanks for sharing your experience of seeing the distant view of the thunderstorms in Dayton. That gave a good picture of viewing a distant storm. The power of storms is amazing and can be scary if you’re in the path of that storm.
We have been getting rain the last several days too and have a possibility of some severe weather this afternoon. I have never really like thunderstorms but that is mostly due to a tornado that we had when I was around 10 years old. A couple of kids that were older than me from my school died and it was a very scary thing to go through. I don’t mind them as much now as long as I know there are no tornado warnings. Like you with the dogs, we have one cat that doesn’t let the storms bother her and our other one hides under the couch every time it even rains heavy. We are thankful for every drop of rain since we had a dry summer last year and then not much snow over winter. Our grass was brown but now is growing tall since the way the rain is hitting makes it impossible to mow, but at least we are getting rain!! 🙂
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We needed the rain too, Hope. It was unusually dry for spring here, but summer is bringing those thunderstorms and lots of rain. We got ovr three inches in that storm the other night. I don’t blame you for not liking the threat of tornadoes. I guess most of us would agree with you there. It’s one thing to hear a little rumbling and see some flashes of lightning and another to think about everything getting blown away. And how tragic that those children were killed in the tornado you remember. That gave plenty of reason for you to not like storms.
Hope your grass keeps growing and stays green. Green is better in the summertime.
I love them, thanks to my Daddy! When I was a young girl, we lived in an area of the country that could have fierce thunderstorms pop up. When one was heading our way, but before the rains came, Daddy would say, “come one, let’s go watch Gods handiwork.” We’d go out and sit on the picnic table and watch the clouds roil, hear the thunder, notice the trees swaying and see the lightning far off! It was awesome! As a result, I’ve never been afraid of storms. In fact, I still love to watch them come in! I always think of my Daddy when I do and take note of “God’s handiwork”.
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Those sound like special times your enjoyed with your father, Judi. He must have loved seeing God’s handiwork and gave that gift to you. That was a fine gift.