A Storm

At times we face storms in our life.  Big booming thunder clouds roll in and make us feel helpless.  The rain falls, the thunder sounds, we feel overwhelmed, sorry for ourselves, and disappointed that things never seem to go our way.  We hide from the rain, we sleep through the storm, we seek shelter from the winds, we grab our umbrella because we don’t want to get wet.  Our vision becomes clouded over.  But Guess What??  God is in the storm – his voice thunders through it all, his presence is there the entire time.  After the storm, everything is washed clean, the stuff that wasn’t nailed down has blown away.  The dead twigs have fallen.  We discover that sometimes we need to weed out the unnecessary stuff in our life to get a glimpse at what is important.  

Sometimes we face storms that make us anxious and worry about tomorrow.   It may be a stormy relationship.  It might be a financial storm, or something that is just emotionally draining.  It may be health or medical troubles.  But if we allow Jesus into our boat and call on him to calm the storm — if we go to bed and wake up with God on our side — we gain the power of peace and it enables us to find joy where we thought there was none.  Knowing that we have the power of God behind us, encourages us to have the confidence to tackle tomorrow and any storms that come our way.

Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him.  A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.  Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”  Jesus got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.  Mark 4: 36-39

We all go through storms… These storms have a way of waking us up and challenging us to find new and different ways to make the sun shine.

The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the Lord thunders over the mighty waters.
The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is majestic.  Psalm 29:3-4