Walking Through the Storm

Matthew 8:24-27And behold, there arose a shaking great storm on the sea,And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing!”He said to them, “Why are you cowardly afraid, you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and a great calm occurred it became perfectly calm. The men were amazed, and said, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

I arose one Sunday morning to a magnificent storm; complete with: hard, steady rain, an occasional bolt of lightning, and rumbling thunder. It appeared the storm would last for awhile. Like each Saturday night I had made preparations to be in church the next morning. It would have been easier to have slept in. It was just that kind of storm, the kind that says take shelter and avoid at all costs, hide from it, stay in and pray that it will pass, but by all means don't face it.

Even though, I had committed, I wrestled with myself several times about how tired we all were and that God would understand. All the while knowing the few times we had made the decision to skip church, our week had a sort of empty feeling. So, while wanting to crawl back into bed… I continued to prepare.We walked outside to a beautiful morning. The bully of a storm that had taunted us, telling us it was here to put limits on our day had ended much more quickly than we thought it would. We made a decision to walk through it to get to where we were going, rather than sitting still. The blessings of a word from God for us all, the familiar faces and love of fellow church members, and a renewed spirit to assist us in the upcoming week were waiting for us on the other side of the storm.

Our family's experience that morning came like the storms in life. The storms come quickly and threaten to limit our lives and shake up our plans. They are so fierce at times, our very lives feel threatened, and it seems they are here to stay. We want to hide, stay in the bed, and cower away from the storm. We have to keep walking. Our amazing God, doesn't tell us the storms won't come, but he promises He will be present during the storm. When He chooses, He'll step in and command the storm, "Peace, be still!" (Matthew 8:23-27) and put a halt to the storm that seems like it's here to stay.We have to keep walking and allow our spirit of power to kick in, and not lie down and allow the spirit of fear to consume us. (2 Timothy 1:7) Keep walking; it's the only way to get THROUGH the storm. God will always do His thing, and on the other side of the storm will be a blessing and a lesson.

Later the same day, as we were on our way to another destination; another storm popped up out of nowhere. This too mimics life. The storms may come one after another. We have to learn that storms will come…expect them. It doesn’t mean we look forward to them ; but learn to expect them. Many are in fierce storms right now. Keep walking; knowing that you don’t walk alone, and look forward to the blessing waiting on the other side.