It had started out as a normal camping trip complete with tents, sleeping bags, pillows, flashlights, firewood, and s’mores.
None of us expected anything more than hiking and kayaking in the beautiful nature that surrounded our family of six.
But we knew we had gotten more than we bargained for when a huge thunderstorm erupted and the severe weather siren sounded throughout the campground at 2:30 a.m.
With the wind and rain whipping all around us, Daddy and I roused our children up out of their sleeping bags.
The siren meant we had to evacuate the campground.
We all piled into the van and drove, with windshield wipers flying, through the driving rain to the park ranger’s office, where you are supposed to go in severe weather. It was locked, and no one was there.
Waiting out a storm
We did the next best thing and looked to park next to a sturdy building away from trees and wait out the storm.
We could barely see the road through the torrential rain as Daddy maneuvered the van past downed trees and limbs.
Water ran in streams alongside the car as we made our way toward a concrete building on a hill devoid of trees.
Thunder crashed, rain poured down, and wind shuddered across the car.
Surrender in prayer
Helpless and exposed to the terrifying power of nature, we did the only thing we could: We prayed the Rosary.
With each “Hail Mary,” I begged Our Blessed Mother to intercede for us and protect us, as the storm snarled and toiled all around the van. But also, in those uncertain moments, I completely surrendered to Our Lord’s will.
Within 15 minutes, as we finished the Rosary, the monstrous storm subsided, the rain abated, and the wind died down.
With prayers of thanksgiving on our lips, we drove carefully back to our campsite.
There we discovered that, during the storm, an old tree had broken in half right next to the tent.
God’s majestic power
When I am struggling through life’s storms — exteriorly or interiorly — this memory reminds me of the majestic power of God.
Nothing is greater than Our Lord — no sin, no emotion, no situation, no earthly or spiritual battle.
Our Lord — who is, was, and always shall be — rules eternally over Heaven and earth, as well as in our hearts.
We control nothing
When you realize your nothingness in the face of the power of God, it changes you.
Through much of life, we can delude ourselves with the belief that we have everything under control, when in reality, we control nothing.
Just about the only thing we can control is praying for the grace to love Our Lord.
That’s it. And that’s all we need.
What a relief to let go of the false sense of control and instead stand awash in the majesty and power of Our Lord the Almighty, who created the universe and yet deigns to come to me personally under the humble appearance of bread and wine.
Only Our Lord could be so powerful and so humble at the same time.
All because He loves me, through every kind of storm.
Julianne Nornberg, mother of four, works at St. John the Baptist School in Waunakee and the Cathedral of St. Bernard of Clairvaux in Madison.