Believe: 5 Days of Inspiration to Build Your FaithSample

SUDDEN CHANGE

Where I live in Richmond, Virginia we just finished the third-warmest December ever and the ninth-warmest year on record. On Sunday, January 2 we had a new record high temperature of 72 degrees. It was still in the 60’s that the evening when suddenly things changed.

Cold air had been locked to the north for weeks but that all ended as dawn broke on Monday morning. A new storm came from North Carolina and started to bring rain to Virginia. Then the cold air advanced on a biting northeast wind. The result was a freak snowstorm.

Usually when the ground is wet and not particularly cold, snow has a hard time accumulating. But high rates of snowfall can overcome those conditions. And that is exactly what happened on Monday. We went from super warm temperatures to a surprising amount of snow.

At my house there was about six inches of snow, but in other places not far away almost a foot of snow fell. All the result of a sudden change in the weather pattern from the past weeks. I would have never believed on that warm Sunday night we could have snow and certainly not that it would accumulate to that many inches the next day.

Monday the children were supposed to go back to school after their Christmas break but school was cancelled. My wife had been on Christmas vacation and scheduled to go back to work on Monday and her work was cancelled too. I’m not sure if the kids or my wife were more excited.

In football we have the phrase “sudden change.” It happens when an interception is returned for a touchdown, a fumble is recovered in the end zone, or a kickoff is returned for a score. One team is now the beneficiary of a positive change that could lead to victory.

Proverbs 13:12 says, “Unrelenting disappointment leaves you heartsick, but a sudden good break can turn life around.” Maybe you have had more than your share of disappointment and heartache. Nothing has gone your way for far too long. You’ve almost lost hope that things could ever change for the better.

But there could be a sudden change. An unlikely forty-degree shift for your benefit. A good break could turn your whole life around. It only takes one person recommending you, one key decision in your favor, one God-ordained blessing.

And suddenly everything changes. It can happen from just one day to the next. The disappointment of yesterday is replaced with the favor of today.