So many times in life, things are hard!
There are 'storms' that come at us with no warning and
some we watch unfold right before our very eyes.
Last Saturday's storm was a perfect picture of life!
The morning had been going great since I was getting to spend time with my boys in the swimming pool until the clouds started gathering. It didn't take long for the sun to be covered in clouds, and they were quickly taking over the whole sky. The raindrops started to fall, and it got heavier and heavier. Jamie and I spotted stuff sliding across the deck so we went out into the storm in order to try to prevent any damage to the chairs or the pool. The rain was pegging me in the face so hard that it felt like little needles poking me. The wind was blowing so strongly that it was hard to hold any item we had picked up in order to carry it to safety. When I grabbed the umbrella out of the pool, the wind caused it to pick me up and for a second I thought I was going parasailing across the yard. :)
It was so obvious the many lessons that day that God was teaching me. We are going to face trials of many kinds, but how do we see them? Do we count is all joy as James 1:2 says because we know that God says that the testing of our faith produces patience and to let patience have its perfect work, that we may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
Lacking nothing, hmmm, sounds like something we all want. Are we willing to do what it takes to get to the point of lacking nothing. Joy is not the first thing that naturally, humanly speaking, comes to our minds when we face storms. Our default setting tells us to get mad, question, and want out of the storm as quickly as possible. I believe it's in our response that determines what's next.
In my life, storms have been where I've had to learn to rely on God more than ever before because it was totally out of my control. When I was pregnant with Justin and Jordan, doctors told me that both of them wouldn't live because they were in the same membranes. We were told we had a 1 out of 1,000,000 chance for them to survive. Talk about being out of your control! When you hear a doctor say "There is nothing we can do", it can leave you really hopeless. This was one of those times where I sat back and watched the storm and wandered "why me God?"
I had no idea just how many more storms were coming for us and the many, many others that God has given us great love for, but Praise the Lord that the Holy Spirit has helped me realize that God has called me to go out into the storm with the rain hitting my face & wind blowing so hard that it's difficult to hold on. I don't want to stay inside anymore when I KNOW how big our God really is!
When you read God's promises that say "Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You." Jeremiah 32:17 and you KNOW that GOD ALWAYS keeps His promises, storms become beautiful! Notice I didn't say easy, but they are beautiful because after putting my faith in Jesus Christ and receiving His Holy Spirit as our Counselor, Comforter, Teacher, and so many other things, I know this isn't it!
The best is yet to come! TRUST HIM!
