Tag: storms of life

My Encouragement for Today

On By vickleaIn Scripture1 Comment

Remember when you didn’t worry at all about anything because you knew your parents were taking care of everything for you? Food was prepared and served for you, clothes were purchased, rides were arranged or provided. I never remember getting one single bill during my childhood. My parents just did what parents do, they took care of us. And like most children, we just took their provision and care for granted.

As an adult, we are assaulted on every side by things that could cause us great concern. I say “could” because if we are leaning in to our Heavenly Father, we know that He is caring and providing for us just as our loving parents used to do. The storms of life are many and unexpected, but nothing surprises God and He is a stable rock for us to cling to in a sea of change that threatens to overwhelm us.

Lest you think I must be going through a really tough time right now, I’m not, at least not currently. But life has a tendency to throw curve balls when we least expect them, so I am clinging to this Scripture to help me through whatever comes next. God holds on to me just as I hold on to Him and His promises. The verse clearly says I will help you. It doesn’t get any better than that. He is as close as our hand reaching out and promises His assistance, no matter what we may need. He is our steadfast source of strength and ready to battle with us against the waves of life. He may not take us out of the storm. In fact, in my experience, that rarely happens. However, He is there in the storm with us, calming our hearts so that we can make it through to the calm that awaits us after the storm passes. Storms of life come and go, but our God is always there. Always!

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!

My Shelter

On By vickleaIn Scripture, Song4 Comments

There are storms all around each of us daily, the storms of life and change and just surviving sometimes. How we react to those storms tells the world a lot about us as a person.

I have had two huge storms circling around me for months. The first was our grandson’s enlistment in the USN and leaving for boot camp. As my husband and I visited with him weekly, the fact that he would depart at the end of April was always at the back of my mind. Then, it happened. Our last lunch. Our final outing with Isaac, and the next day, he left. I have a deep ache in my heart because I miss him, but his leaving moved me closer to my Father in Heaven, the One who knows how deep the pain is and also how change is a part of life.

The other storm is raging around me as the sister who has lived near me for the last two plus decades prepares to move away. Her daughter, my niece, says that she will come to Virginia to get me for visits, but I know it won’t, but I know it won’t be the same. I’m just praying that different will be better. She leaves the end of this month, another departure of someone I’m close to. Again, I run to my shelter, the Lord who never leaves me no matter what changes the storms may bring.

I am hurrying to my shelter each day, many times a day, actually as the grief of separation overwhelms me. I am trusting God to take care of each of them, both Isaac and Ann, in their new places in life. I already know that He has me hidden in His hand, holding me close. When tears threaten to fall, He is comforting me with the promise that He will always be there for me and I will indeed see my loved ones again. I’m sad for those who don’t have this hope, the shelter on whom I depend so much when the storm is raging all around me.

He protects me from the worst of the storm, saves me from its power that could upend my life and grants me the safety and security of being in His presence, calming down my storm-tossed emotions.

My prayer for each of my readers is to know the safety and refuge that comes from being with the Lord. He is dependable and always ready to hold out His hand to help and comfort. His Word is a shelter, too, a tower and shield against all of the depressing thoughts that could come if it were not for His presence. Seek His love, His comfort and His presence and you will find it. He is just there, next to you, waiting for you to call upon Him.

God Is Our Refuge and Strength by Steve Kuban

God bless you today as you seek Him and His solace and strength. For we all face storms, and God is always our shelter from them or through them.