As a young mother, I remember looking out my basement window watching a tornado snake across the sky a few miles south-west of us. At the time, I didn’t know about the power of the name of Jesus. As I watched, the white tail turned black as it picked up debris from a school and a church in the suburban Kansas City neighborhood.

Years later, I learned as a believer in Jesus Christ, He had given me and all His followers authority to do the miracles He did. (“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father” John 14:12.)

Jesus not only healed the sick and cast out demons. He also stilled storms (See Mark 4:39).

I wrote the following account in my first God’s Little Miracle Book about another tornado I was in. I’ll share it with you here.

The Power of the Name

John 14:12, 13 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”

Tornado sirens wailed in the dark. For Kansas residents, this is the signal for everyone to take cover immediately. This evening before sunset, the atmosphere had a greenish-tinge to it. My five-year-old, Josh, and I were the only ones home.

“Let’s go the basement, son,” I said.

He grabbed my hand.

“Afraid?”

He nodded.

“Don’t worry. We’ll be safe down here.”

I hoped my casual tone convinced him. I wasn’t as confident as I wanted him to believe. The weatherman had predicted a powerful storm headed straight for our section of the city.

“Get in that corner away from the window.”

We settled ourselves in the south-west corner, and waited for the storm to pass. I said a silent prayer for our safety.

Josh clutched my arm as strong winds whipped the trees outside. Sycamore branches pelted the house. Although I had been through tornadoes before, this one seemed particularly loud—like a freight train coming toward us.

While the storm raged, I remembered the testimony of a survivor of a tornado in Topeka.

“Josh, want to hear a story?”

“Sure, Mom.”

“There was a lady who lived in Topeka several years ago. She heard a teaching on the power of the name of Jesus at her church. She learned Jesus gave His believers the authority over storms just like He had.*

“Well, this lady in Topeka saw a funnel cloud headed straight for her living room. She pointed her finger at the tornado and said, ‘In the name of Jesus, turn.’

“It turned alright . . . right into the capitol building. It tore up the capitol dome pretty bad. I remember seeing a map on the front page of The Kansas City Times newspaper the next day. It showed the strange right turn the tornado took.

“Later, she said, ‘If I’d had my wits about me, I would have said, In the name of Jesus, lift!’”

Josh pulled on my sleeve. “Mom, the storm sounds like it’s getting worse.”

I took his hands. “Let’s pray. We’ll ask Jesus for help. He gave us authority over storms–even tornados.”

“In the name of Jesus, lift,” I said over the churn of the storm.

The train-sound stopped immediately as if someone hit the “mute” button on a TV remote. Only the sound of the pounding rain remained.

Josh’s eyes widened. “Wow, Mom! What happened?”

“We belong to Jesus. When we walk with Him, we have power in His name against anything that would harm us. Jesus answered our prayer and took the tornado back into the clouds.”

“Cool!” he whispered.

Josh is twenty-seven now. When we hear the whine of tornado sirens, we are not afraid. We grin at one another, and remember the time we learned, first hand, the power of the name of our Lord Jesus.

*Mark 4:39 “And being aroused, He rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm.”