There's Peace Found Within the Storm

You hear people talk about stormy days as if they are dreamy. Not to me. I love sunny days. Hence, the name of my blog. I find that I feel happier and have an overall better attitude. There's something about a clear blue sky, clouds, and warmth that makes my heart leap. Rainy days, on the other hand, are dreadful to me. I feel like they keep you stuck inside, its dark and gloomy, and its yucky outside. I feel melancholic. And I've had this perspective towards rainy weather since a child.

I've been going through a little storm myself, figuratively speaking. In the past month there's been a lot of things happening and changing in my life that's caused a load of discomfort in literally all aspects of my life. I feel like God is shaking things up, but maybe it just seems more overwhelming than it actually is because I'm so focused on what's happening that I can't really see the light at the end of the tunnel. I was sitting here and felt an unction to write in my journal. So I begin writing about my day and as soon as I begin to journal rain started to pour down. I was journaling about feeling so close to Jesus since taking time away from social media and pulling back from everything in my life a little bit. I chose to do this to start the year off to hear the voice of God clearly & I've just felt this nearness to God. Which is important to note. I paused from writing and sat and listened to the rain for the one minute that it violently poured down. I thought to myself "I love this. Theres so much peace within a storm." I automatically knew the Holy Spirit was about to give me some kind of revelation (and he did) because I never ever ever feel like this about rainy days; but for some reason today I felt so cozy, warm, and joyful. I was on the couch cozied up with my blanket, the heat turned up, my lamp lit, and feeling thankful to the Lord for the peace I felt. I thought to myself 'I want it to storm harder because I feel so calm right now.' The idea of rainy days being peaceful to most people made so much sense in that moment. 

God showed me that what I was feeling in this moment is exactly what's panning out spiritually in my life. He gave me the revelation that my perspective was shifting in the midst of my storm. Storms in the natural realm were always uncomfortable and scary to me. They felt dark and gloomy.  I couldn't go out and do things or be around people. I felt restricted. It's loud. All the things, right? This is exactly how I feel in spiritual storms. When your finances are looking tight, when God is calling you to uncomfortable places that you feel inadequate for, when you may have to take a step back from something you knew God placed in your heart to do, when you're constantly being humbled by life and marriage its straight up uncomfortable. The things I just listed out is what I'm currently walking through, if you couldn't tell, and it has felt really dark for a couple of weeks. It felt like the more I prayed for clarity, the more confused I got.  I felt as if God didn't care about me or my situation. I've been crying out asking the Lord for direction because I don't understand what he's doing in my life right now. Nothing makes sense and I'm just not sure what he's wanting me to do. Things don't look how I thought they would, so I'm having to trust that whatever God is doing is for my good. 

My perspective of this storm is changing with the help of prayer and being reminded of the truth from the Word of God and my friends. I've felt peace and hope the past couple of days that I haven't felt since all of this began to happen. The truth is, when things begin to shake up a little in my life my first response isn't to dwell on truth and to have faith in God through it. My first response sometimes is to be overwhelmed, depressed, and anxious because I'm entertaining thoughts from the enemy concerning my situation. Isn't that what we all do? We immediately question God and what he's doing and its "woe is me?" In the midst of storms Satan's objective is to get you to focus more on your situation than on God. It's to make you feel like God isn't listening. It's to bring confusion. It's to make your situation feel big and overwhelming. And most of all to get you to doubt God and his character. 

What if instead of looking at the storm with grief I saw it as an opportunity to have peace? What if the storm is meant to draw me unto God from whom peace comes? 

I'm sitting here today with peace in the middle of a storm both in the physical and spiritual realm. Instead of focusing on what the storm looked like outside today I chose to light a lamp, turn up the heat, and cuddle up with a blanket. And I found so much comfort in that. This is what I've been doing spiritually. Lighting my lamp: which is the word of God. Psalm 119:105: "Your words is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." He's allowed this storm to re-kindle a fire in me that I felt had died down. I needed the heat to be turned up. The Bible describes God as a consuming fire. How can anything that's not like God can withstand His consuming fire (doubt, fear, anxiety, sin, unbelief, depression) when you're dwelling with Him and His glory? It burns off. And lastly, cuddling up to God. Staying at his feet has literally felt like he's put a blanket of comfort and warmth around me. 

And to think that all my life I've allowed the the weather to control my perspective. Sunny days aka the days in your life when everything is going good are not always the greatest. I question if the "peace" I feel when things are good (sunny) is true peace or if I'm just comfortable. Happy and comfortable because things are going my way or theres no storms, if you will. If things were always good, we'd forget about the Lord. There's no need to pray and seek God when things are going well. We don't need him for anything when we're not going through anything. Nothing is challenging us in comfort, therefore we can't grow. Sunny days can't reveal what's hiding your heart because nothing is triggering it. The storm keeps us close to God. They test our faith. The storms expose where we really are spiritually. We come out of the other side of storms with endurance and perseverance. How will I respond to them?  

Therefore I can count it all joy. James 1:2-6 says "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind." 

If this Scripture doesn't sum up the entirety of this blog then I don't know what will. I just want to encourage you, friend, that you can have peace in the storm because of this. Sometimes we think the storm disrupts our peace, but it's still there. You may have allowed the storm to shift your eyes from God to your situation, and that's where doubt and unbelief happens. Just like the disciples on the boat with Jesus in Mark 4. A great windstorm arose. Jesus was sleeping. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care if we drown?” Then Jesus got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to the disciples, “ Oh you of little faith. Why are you so afraid?” They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

The disciples are me. I panic when the storm comes and question if Jesus even cares? Remember that all Jesus asks us to do is have faith when we're in the middle of a storm. We don't have to feel entitled to know all the details before we trust what God is doing. Sometimes he doesn't give us our next steps to increase our faith in Him. The whole point of faith is trusting in what you cannot see. Without faith it is impossible to please Him. He told the wind and waves to be quiet and be still and they obeyed. So when you feel overwhelmed, when your storm gets loud and noisy, when you don't know what decision to make, when things feel dark here's your reminder that your situation has to obey the One True and Living, Almighty God. That's encouraging! 

 

May God's shalom be with you