Tag: Be still

Fighting Battles

On By vickleaIn Scripture4 Comments

So far, 2026 seems to have been one long battle with my health. Shoulder, torn rotator cuff. Back, five herniated discs and a pinched nerve. And then asthma set in and I haven’t been able to shake the cough. I just had a CT Scan on my lungs this week. In all of this, I found myself getting discouraged, which if you know me, is not the usual me. I generally just give it to God and move on. From September when I broke my foot until now, I have just seemed to visit doctors’ offices for one issue or another. I know that it comes with aging, but it hasn’t been pleasant and I have found myself whining to God.

This morning, my dear Savior and Friend stopped me in the middle of my whine and reminded me of who He is and what He has already done for me. Well, that’s not quite accurate. He started by reminding me of one of my memory verses before I went to sleep last night.

With that verse on my mind as I drifted off to sleep, it was also on my mind when I woke up coughing and with my aching back again this morning. God told me that I have tried to “be still” but I haven’t really been still enough to hear His voice, His comfort and His wisdom.

So, how do I fight these battles? By being still and letting God lead and direct me. The pain is real, the coughing is a real pain, but every breath is a gift from God. That realization opens up my world to praise, not whining.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the word that God put on my heart for the year is “trust.” I have been tested over and over about whether I truly trust God or not and many times, I have found myself lacking, going back to the table with the Lord and working to understand what trust is and what it is not. I am not there yet because the battle rages on, but I do know that I am not fighting alone. God is right there, my David to a Goliath and He has all the stones I need to defeat the giants in my life. I just have to be still…not walk away. I have to stand in the battle with the Lord, knowing that He is there winning a victory for me, if I will just let go of the temptation to control things and let Him win.

This Is How I Fight My Battles-Michael W. Smith

Calming the Storms

On By vickleaIn Scripture4 Comments

I live on the east coast and we have a good number of hurricanes or tropical storms pass through. The worst one that I can remember was Isabel, a storm that took out our electricity for almost two weeks and forced us to evacuate and stay with friends for a while until the roads were cleared and it was safe to go home again. I vividly remember hearing that the storm was coming and getting ready for it, with flashlights, bottled water and canned foods as well as crackers. Then, as the storm got closer, Harry and I prayed together for safety. The rain was pounding, the thunder was crashing and the lightning just seemed to light up the sky with one lightning bolt after another. We didn’t sleep much that night; the electricity went out early in the evening and since we live rurally we were in total darkness except for our small lanterns and flashlights. But, we made it through the storm safely. When Harry went out to scout around, he found that there were electrical lines down everywhere and it wasn’t really safe to go anywhere yet. But once it was, we moved to stay with someone else who still had electricity. The storm was powerful and scary, but there are worse storms to be in.

There are storms of broken family relationships. My siblings don’t all talk to each other but they all talk to me. That makes things awkward for me, to say the least. Some of my siblings won’t talk to my sons because the latter are so liberal. I don’t believe as my sons do, but they are still my sons, so I try to mediate that situation, too. My sister has a health issue that is causing her to go blind. My daughter had a cancer scare last year. We have three grandchildren going to college this year, and we all know that college is expensive and sometimes their ideas aren’t worth having. My husband and I are both getting older and have decisions to make about our future. The list of storms of life goes on endlessly.

As I look around the “boat of my life,” I am convinced that I would not have made it this far without Jesus calming the storms. He doesn’t always calm the storms around me. He calms me so that I have a different perspective and can maintain peace even in the middle of the storm.

When the storms of life are shouting for attention, Jesus makes them whisper and when the waves want to toss me around, Jesus makes them still. Are there still storms happening? Yes, every day. Why, I can’t go a few hours without someone trying to disturb my peace with a troubling story or a complaint. I take them all to the Lord and continue, with my sea calmed and the voices becoming a whisper in the background. The voice that stands out will be that of the Lord telling me to “Peace, Be still.” Yes, that’s right. He calms me so that I can face the storms. Does that mean that I am always calm? No, but I am a work in progress. What it means is that I am trying to remain calm and when that doesn’t happen naturally (which it seldom does), I ask for Jesus’s intervention and He is faithful to calm me to face the storm. Then, He calms the storm and the thing that I feared or dreaded is not a hurricane but only a mild wind storm that passes quickly.

Peace…be still!