Life’s Storms

The I 30 corridor…not a pleasant phrase when the storms are kicking through in East Texas. I watched them all day yesterday, first one tornado warning and then another. It was the positioning of the storms that gave me pause. So often in the past those East Texas storms would fly up the interstate and cause us problems in Arkansas. At one point I got a text from a precious cousin, whose daughter and husband were on their way to a storm shelter near Texarkana. We prayed together via text and asked God to watch over them. Finally, the storms settled down for the evening.

What a blessing to have the opportunity to pray together over life’s storms. We serve a great God who gives us encouraging people to partner in faith with all along the way. Especially blessed when it’s during the stormiest times of our lives.

Oh beloved, if you’ve been looking for a place where no storms can appear, you are working hard for the impossible. Only heaven will contain no storms. And you, beloved, are here now. Life is stormy so much of the time, even when it’s just a little trouble, a believer can lose sight of the promises of God. Those are the blessings of being in Christ. That after the rain the rainbow will appear. After the storm the clouds will roll away. After the heartbreaks the healing will come.
God wants you to know that He sees your tears and your fears. You’ve prayed and partnered with prayer warriors, yet there seems to be no let up to the storm you face. He says learn to abide in Me and let Me fight your storms for you. It is God who stands between you and disaster. And your faith never has to see the disaster, even if life does. Just as our cousin’s daughter and husband went to a safe place for the storm, you too have a safe place for the storms you encounter. While you’d like to think you could escape everything, you actually have the blessing of being in the Shelter of the Most High, abiding in the Shadow of the Almighty. This is your hiding place and as you learn to abide there in good times as well as bad, you will find that your strength will increase and your faith will hold when the storms roll through.

God loves you and He’s for you. Pray for one another. Partner in faith. But run to the Father, ask Him for help, settle into His Word and wait. You are precious, provided for and protected through it all as you live in the Light of the Love of the Only Living God.

Psalm 91: 1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

Psalm 27: 5 For in the day of trouble He will hide me in His shelter; He will conceal me under the cover of His tent; He will set me high upon a rock.

Psalm 119: 114 You are my hiding place and my shield; I put my hope in Your word.

Isaiah 25: 4 For You have been a refuge for the poor, a stronghold for the needy in distress, a refuge from the storm…

Psalm 36: 7 How excellent is Your lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings.

               Rebekah Beene, Oh Beloved!