Storm

The thing I remember most about that night was the incessant, insistent repetitive pounding of rain on the pavement. It was the kind that caught your attention with its rhythm and reason. It was the kind that characterized the storm in my life that night.
With an impending eviction the next morning, i found it difficult to sleep. My heart pounded as if a symphonic partner along with the storm. I knew God had my back. He always had. But it was one of those moments when it’s most difficult to stand fast on God’s promises. Everything in my reality was in opposition to the faith i espoused on the regular and frankly, I was scared.
The help I sought didn’t come through. Everyone was already taxed beyond their own limits. One said my emergency wasn’t hers. I’d heard other people say that. I knew there was some modicum of truth to it. But we were friends. Relatives. So it was the Lord and me on the night of the storm and I was fading fast.
I was so stressed that I dozed out of sheer exhaustion. A few times. At one point there was even a dream. And in the background, that roaring rain that never subsided the entire night.
In the dream, I opened my eyes to see a huge man standing at the foot of my bed. He was a Black man and he seemed quite strong – able to handle any situation. Seriously. For some strange reason, I said to the Lord, “Is that my angel?” I have no idea where that question came from. But I also sensed a reply. “Yes. Can you go to sleep now?”
I said, “Yes,” and I did go to sleep. It was a peaceful sleep. Not like the torrential naps I’d caught before. And I slept for the rest of the night.
And when I awakened in the morning, the first thing I heard was that unrelenting rain that ushered the storm into yet another day. A day I was scheduled for eviction. What also burst into my consciousness was that the rain had been a recurring message that I’d missed all night long. No one is ever evicted in the rain. Before I’d called, God had already answered and I pretty much missed the whole thing.
No one is ever evicted in the rain.
By the time the storm passed, so had the threat of eviction.