In the Midst of the Storm
“Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day. Remember, O LORD, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old.” Psalms 25:4-6
The sun is shining bright, thanks be to God, following a tropical storm that left me and the ministry’s special needs & senior rescued dogs with a pond in the yard, flooding in the dog building the dogs slept in, no flushing toilet or shower, and minimal use of water from the tap. But as I sit here writing, filthy from lack of a shower for a few days, using the yard as my bathroom, the floor mucked up from all the post-storm gunk outside, the dogs still not back in their building as I haven’t finished cleaning it up, so thankful with the sunshine I should soon be able to use the shower and toilet again and move the dogs back into their building, I am well aware there is a storm in my life that rages on. The more I cleave to God and pursue my ministry calling, the more Satan comes at me like a mighty hurricane in his ever attempt to destroy me and shut my ministry down. Because the Lord has been holding back from me what I desire as I cry out to Him to bring me comfort, relief and a break amid my seemingly endless responsibilities and challenges, the storm is particularly brutal and grueling and seems like it will never let up. Amid it all, I have a message.
There are two ways to go through life’s storms. One with a heart hardened to the Lord, closed off to Him, turned away from Him, hurt, angry, bitter, willful, etc., because we can’t stand our circumstances. The other with a heart wide open to Him allowing Him in the midst of the storms to teach us His ways in the shelter of His love and to grow us in His image no matter how we feel about the circumstances of our storms.
How amazed I am that in the thick of this storm, I realize that whereas once I went through storms with nothing other than rage at God, people, and the dogs, self-pity, bitterness, hurt, complaining, overwhelmed, disgust, fear, judgement, pride, condemnation, you name it, I had it and did it, this time I am yielded to God as in the midst of the storm He perfects His love in me and teaches me to put into practice the very things from His Word I write and tell others about. Whereas once I fought storms and fought God and turned to the world for shelter it could never give, this time I am accepting the storm and running to God for shelter, finding in His everlasting embrace He is answering my prayer to turn me into the woman of God He wants me to be. So much muck and mire in life’s storms, isn’t there? But as life’s storms rage on, we can come into the sunshine of the shelter of Christ, dry off and clean up, and grow in God’s merciful love.
Come into the Lord’s shelter, yield to God and His ways!