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「祂乘旋風和暴風而來，雲彩為祂腳下的塵土。」(鴻 1:3 。)
我記得，有位年輕人參觀坐落於美麗山中的一所古典學院；在山頂上坐下來的時候，眼看著暴風雨從山谷迎面襲來。天空立刻佈滿烏雲，地面因雷電交作而顫抖。原本平靜安詳的景物完全改變了，似乎原先的秀麗美景將一去不復返。
但暴風雨很快掃過，掠過山谷；如果第二天我還坐了在原處，會問說：「那可怕的風暴和撲天蓋地的黑暗在何處？」小草回答：「一部分在我裏面。」雛菊會說：「一部分在我裏面。」果樹、花朵和一切生長於地面的都會認為：「部分的風暴已經交織在我裏面。」
你曾被要求效法你的主嗎？你曾渴望結出聖靈的果子，祈求擁有甜蜜、溫柔和愛心嗎？那麼，不要恐懼掃過你生命的暴風雨之試煉。風暴乃是祝福，在那「之後」是豐盛的果實。--Henry Ward Beecher
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"The Lord hath His way in the whirlwind and storm" (Nahum 1:3).
I recollect, when a lad, and while attending a classical institute in the vicinity of Mount Pleasant, sitting on an elevation of that mountain, and watching a storm as it came up the valley. The heavens were filled with blackness, and the earth was shaken by the voice of thunder. It seemed as though that fair landscape was utterly changed, and its beauty gone never to return.
But the storm swept on, and passed out of the valley; and if I had sat in the same place on the following day, and said, "Where is that terrible storm, with all its terrible blackness?" the grass would have said, "Part of it is in me," and the daisy would have said, "Part of it is in me," and the fruits and flowers and everything that grows out of the ground would have said, "Part of the storm is incandescent in me."
Have you asked to be made like your Lord? Have you longed for the fruit of the Spirit, and have you prayed for sweetness and gentleness and love? Then fear not the stormy tempest that is at this moment sweeping through your life. A blessing is in the storm, and there will be the rich fruitage in the "afterward." --Henry Ward Beecher
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