Through The Storms Of Life

I flew back to Colorado to get my daughter and bring her home.  We rented a vehicle to drive back with all her things.  You can never predict the weather in Colorado or Wyoming, so it is always an adventure and you never know what you are in for.

As we were driving, we left the comforts of the 70 degree weather, with blue skies and puffy white clouds and went into the mountains to be greeted by snow, still with blue skies and puffy white clouds.  As we continued, we could see ahead the clouds where clearly a storm was ahead, where the darkness of the sky met the earth and you couldn't distinguish the separation of the two.  As we continued the storm became darker and scarier. The road continued right into the storm.

There was no getting around it.  Anyone who knows Wyoming, knows there is a lot of nothing,including choices of roads and even shelter.  We had to continue.  I gripped the steering wheel and continued on, and feared what I was in for.

As I gripped on to the steering wheel, I gripped on to Jesus as I muttered prayers under my breath.

When we entered the storm, we entered hard rain … the kind of rain that the window wipers couldn't move fast enough, we entered 32 degree weather which brought some snow mixed into the rain.  We journeyed on and got through to the other side …. then I could only see the storm in my rear view mirror.

I remembered a childhood book the girls used to love:  Going on a Bear Hunt.  It talks about going on a bear hunt and having to go through long wavy grass, a river, mud and a cave.  They can't go around these obstacles, or over or under it … the only way to go is through it.  Sometimes God brings us storms in life.  Sometimes storms just come whether God brings them or not.  We can't go around them, over them or under them, as much as we want or even try … we have to go through them.

As I looked in the rear view mirror I saw what I went through.  And I felt God prompt me as to why I was so scared, after all it wasn't all that I had feared.  And as I looked in the mirror again it was because of the storms I have endured in the past.  I knew how bad the storm could be … I was fearful of the baseball hail that I could have endured and this time without any coverage.  I was fearful of a tornado forming.  I was fearful of the lightening that could fall from the sky with such power and put it's mark on the land right next to me.  I was fearful of a blizzard coming out of no where … all these things I have endured in the past, and I knew what was possible when the storm was before me.

I remembered Luke 8:22-25.  Jesus and his disciples were in the boat, and Jesus was sleeping while the disciples were battling a storm…fearful as they endured it.  They feared for their lives.  Jesus is all his sleepiness and calmness calmed the storm and asked: "Where is your faith?".

God reminded me that storms are going to come and go.  Some are greater than others, as they are all not the same.  Fear shouldn't ever stop me with any of them.  Where is my faith?  Faith is gripping on to Jesus during these storms, but faith is also knowing who is with me and who I am in Him.  The storms of life don't have a hold of me, as He is greater, and He has given me authority to be greater than them too.  

And just as He has given me the authority over these storms … He has given the authority to you.  Conquer your storms.  Grip on to Jesus.  And take authority.  It is yours.

Be Still and KNOW

On a rare occasion we could have an overcast day ... ALL day.  If I was back in California, the would be a normal winter day.  However, we live in Colorado ... we have only a few of those days, and in the summer, not winter.  This summer we seemed to have more than normal.

Our family is just like yours.  We have our good days.  We have our bad.  We have our challenges, and our mountains to climb, just like anyone else.  And we also face our storms.  This summer my husband has been home ... everyday.  He was laid off on April 30th from the job that brought us to Colorado in the first place.  We planned on this being a temporary situation...one month off at the max.  But we are getting ready to face five months off.  He has had some interviews, only to hear a polite "sorry, we are going with another candidate".  We wonder if age is a role in all this.  We point fingers at the job he once had and start blaming the problems they have caused.  Regret comes in as he didn't finish his college degree.  Fear comes in.  Fear goes as we continue to trust in God.  Wondering what God's will is remains the daily question, for the past five months.  Bitterness comes.  Bitterness goes.  Doubt comes.  Doubt goes.  This is our storm, our mountain even.  We don't know where we are in the climb either ... are we still at the beginning and have more days like this?  Or are we somewhere in between?  Have we reached the top yet?  Are blue skies even in the forecast?

We went for a drive to get away from this mountain and storm we face each day and it was one of our overcast days.  God showed me something.

Being that we were heading in the middle of "no where", I could literally see miles and miles of clouds.  Not one break.  But yet no matter how dark the skies were, I knew it was daytime, and I even knew that somewhere behind those clouds the sun was there.  The knowing is certain.  The sun remains.  It is there. 

"Be still and know that I am God;"  continues to rattle in my brain these days.  It is the answers I hear to so many prayers.  I have questioned how to even be still.  Do I quit my job, and sit?  Or do I just simply silence my speech?  Do I just trust?  I don't know what I'm suppose to do but just "be still".  But my battle remains:  what does this look like?

Yet I see this cloudy sky. 

I know there is a sun behind the clouds.  And being that I even know the direction I'm heading and the time of day it is ... I can have a good guess as to where exactly it is.  However, being that I'm moving 75 miles per hour on an interstate, in a different time zone and even in an area I'm not completely familiar with ... I would be surprised to find out that my guess of where the sun is, is off.  But if I were to sit still, if I were to watch and see and study the days prior to this storm I would know exactly where the sun is when the storm rolled in.

And there you have it. 

"Be still and know that I am God."

Watch.  See.  Study.

And when the storms of life roll in, and the mountain climb seems too strenuous you too will know where the son is in all this.  You may not see him, but you know full well He is there and exactly where He said He'll be.
 

 

Be still and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth.

Psalm 46:10

 

The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you;

he will never eave you nor forsake you.

Do not be afraid;

do not be discouraged

Deuteronomy 31:8

 

Do not be afraid.

Stand firm and you will see the deliverance

the Lord will bring you today.

The Lord will fight for you;

you need only to be still.

Exodus 14:13-14

 

God Can Still Calm the Storms!

"Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him.  Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat.  But Jesus was sleeping.  The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us!  We're going to drown!"

He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?"  Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

The men were amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this?  Even the winds and the waves obey him!"

Matthew 8:23-27

Yesterday God showed me a vision.  I was in a boat.   The skies were dark, circling above me.  The waters were rough and waves high.  I was wet.  I threw an anchor in the water out of desperation, fear and even an attempt as the last resort.  It was then I knew there had a to be a rock and something solid for that anchor to hook into - and that was God, himself.  He was never changing, always present and constant.  That anchor was Jesus.  Jesus and God are so close, so close that the anchor knew exactly where the rock was, and knew that rock was able.  The rope I held in my hands as I let the anchor go into the storm waters was the Holy Spirit.  And that rope leads me to the anchor, that leads me to God.  As I looked into the water, with the rope in my hand the storm was behind me and it was quiet as I stayed looking towards the Rock (God).  I couldn't see what was so far underneath, but I knew it was there. 

This picture reminded me that through all the storms of life, and through the crisis' we are currently going through, I need to fix my eyes on God.  Look towards him, even though I can't see him, I can trust and know He is there in the midst of all this.  I'm not to look at the outcome of the storm, nor even how you are going to stop the storm ... but just stay fixed on God and let everything calm down around me.  I can find that peace as long as my eyes are fixed on him.  God is unchanging, solid and my rock.  Jesus is my anchor, keeps me stable and secure in the storm, and the Holy Spirit will keep me connected with the two - even in the times I let go.  I can trust that all three are there for me.  I can stand in the storm.  I can believe and trust in the three.  I have a faithful three to hold onto. 

I was reminded of the above verse as Jesus calms the storm.  Jesus had to be woken up.  How many times, even in the midst of our current trials I have wondered, if Jesus was sleeping on me - if he was even seeing what I was going through.  Jesus is saying to me, as he did his disciples, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?". 

Today, I choose to grow my faith.  I'm going to look past our circumstances, and look toward God.  As I do so, I know the same Jesus then is the same today, who will speak to these storms and all of "this" will submit to the One who speaks.  I choose to keep hold of the Spirit and allow him to guide me through the waters and remain connected tightly and closely to the One that saves.