When the Storms Rage In This Life

Last night, in North Texas and Southern Oklahoma, we had wicked storms in this area.  The skies were black, the wind was fierce, reaching up to 70 mph at times, tornadoes were spotted all around with many touching down, thunderstorms and lightning lit up the sky, and there was up to softball-sized hail in some areas.  Many people lost homes and possessions due to the severity of destruction when these storms thundered through their area.  I was blessed to have it go within five miles of me, but not affect my home at all.  It was a scary night but it could have been so much worse!  What struck me this morning, when I sat on my back porch to do my quiet time, was that the sun was shining so bright, there was not a cloud in the sky, the birds were chirping and it was just a gorgeous, Texas day.  No inkling at all of the storms that had ripped through the area just twelve short hours before.

Isn't that how life is in general?  We all will go through storms in life and trials of various sorts...some people are hit worse than others, and we often never know the whys of that, nor do we understand it.  But then, we reach the other side of that storm and life is just so sweet as God has wiped the slate clean.  At that point, it may even be hard to visualize or remember how bad that storm truly was because God just brings such beauty, growth and new life out of it all.  It's times like these that remind me of Psalm 30:5, "For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime! Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning."  God has such infinite grace and mercy for us and only He can create beauty out of the ashes and rubble!  It never ceases to amaze me how He can bring a new day forth so rapidly in someone's life and I just think it's a gentle, physical reminder when a new day dawns every morning of how God is in control of not just the heavens and the Earth, but each detail of our daily lives.  What an awesome God we serve!  That brings to mind one of my favorite verses right now:

 Zephaniah 3:17-20

Do not fear, Zion;

do not let your hands hang limp.

The LORD your God is with you,

the Mighty Warrior who saves.

He will take great delight in you;

in his love he will no longer rebuke you,

but will rejoice over you with singing.

 I will remove from you

all who mourn over the loss of your appointed festivals,

which is a burden and reproach for you.

At that time I will deal

with all who oppressed you.

I will rescue the lame;

I will gather the exiles.

I will give them praise and honor

in every land where they have suffered shame.

At that time I will gather you;

at that time I will bring you home.

I will give you honor and praise

among all the peoples of the earth

when I restore your fortunes

before your very eyes,

says the LORD.

To me, these verses speak clearly about the destruction we face in life...whether that be physical, emotional or spiritual storms and what is going on behind the scenes while those storms are raging and what God can and will produce after it all has blown away.  The picture of the Lord rejoicing over me, even while I sleep, just brings me such peace!  I think about my friends who just lost material possessions but I have the comfort knowing that God will restore it because they love Him and they are faithful to Him.  We so often get tied up at looking at how big and bad the storm is because let's face it, it IS distracting, that we forget to concentrate on the end result and God's promises of the joy that WILL come in the morning!

Jared Anderson has a song named "AMAZED" that I just love right now and I could just listen to it a million times.  It goes along with the verses above in my mind...God delighting over us, rejoicing over us, dancing over us while we are not even aware of it.  Storms swirl around us and He is THERE in the storms, as well as the seasons of valleys and mountaintop experiences.  It is amazing His love for us...we cannot begin to fathom the depth, the width and greatness of that love...it's like nothing we can ever have, even for the ones in our lives we love the very most. 

So, when the storms rage and the thunder strikes and the destruction comes in this life, remember to cling to the promises that the Lord has given you and claim the victory only He can bring about.  He is there and He will bring forth the sunshine in your life.  Sometimes it may take awhile but rest assured it will come to those that wait patiently and put their trust in the Lord.

JOY