When Yahweh sent judgment on His sinful people, it often came in the form of drought. Cracked, dry ground refused to embrace the seed and produce a crop. People perished from dehydration and famine.
But what about too much rain? What about floods? What about storms?
While much of America’s East Coast still reels from the effects of Hurricane Florence, I feel the need to share about storms—life storms—and find some sort of sense in the madness.
Storms in Season
We all know the normal patterns of weather in the regions where we live, right? Blizzards strand motorists in winter. Wildfires ravage acreage in summer. Hurricanes attack coastlines in autumn. We can make similar forecasts with the seasons of our lives. Childhood. Teenager. Young adult. Newly married. Married with kids. Empty nester. Senior. Each season has its own storms, but my 2018 has been especially tumultuous.
Forecasted Storms of 2018
I discovered in late 2017 that 2018 would be incredibly busy. Two book releases. Three rough-draft deadlines. Add three writer’s conferences and multiple editing deadlines, and you’ve got a nasty storm brewing.
All the news wasn’t intimidating, however. We discovered one daughter would have twins in June, and the second daughter would move in with us (with her hubby and family) when their house sold. These were blessings that abounded in the choppy waters!
But then some uncharted storms hit—many during the past month.
Uncharted Waters
My hubby had an unexpected job change in August. My phone was stolen at a conference I attended (along with credit cards and I.D.). I returned home for less than twelve hours to begin an Indiana family tour with hubby and our daughter to show off the twins. Four days into the “tour,” we took my Mom to the ER, and she had three heart procedures in eleven days. I stayed at the hospital with her throughout.
When I returned home, I got my first glimpse of Hurricane Florence on the local news. The strong winds would miss us, but rainfall for our area was expected in the 12”-24” range over the weekend. Three family members were evacuated from the coast and came to our home for shelter.
Big-Picture or Boots-On-the-Ground
When I rattle off all the events of our lives since August 19th, I’m overwhelmed anew. The big-picture view feels massive, like the swirling Cat 4-5 hurricane that surged toward Carolina’s coast. But the keynote address by Robin Jones Gunn at the Writer’s Conference (when Hurricane Lane was approaching her home in Maui) has helped me see the boots-on-the-ground view of my circumstances. The view in which moment-by-moment details of praise try to hide.
Robin challenged us to slow down the frantic pace and respond like Mary, the mother of Jesus, did when Gabriel announced her miraculous conception.
“And Mary said, ‘Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.’” Luke 1:38 ESV (emphasis added)
Remember: nothing touches a child of God that hasn’t passed through our Heavenly Father’s hand. Mary knew the storms she would face as an unwed young mother in Galilee. What would Joseph do? What would her parents say? Gabriel had told her about her relative Elizabeth’s miraculous pregnancy, so Mary visited her. Elizabeth’s first words to Mary are worth noting:
“[Elizabeth] exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!’” Luke 1:42 ESV (emphasis added)
I wonder…did Mary feel blessed? She’d left Joseph behind. Dreams of marriage and a “normal” family disappeared. God knew she needed someone to reinforce the blessing He’d placed inside her—despite the storms she was enduring and would later endure.
Listening In the Storm
Mary’s song of praise followed Elizabeth’s proclamation (Luke 1:46-55). The mother of Jesus listened while in the midst of the storm and was encouraged by a Holy-Spirit-inspired voice. As I listened to Robin’s keynote, I became thoroughly convicted of the “Eeyore cloud of woe” I’d been living under for the past few months.
When asked, “How are you?” I would often respond with a half-hearted, “Okay, I guess.”
After hearing Robin’s keynote and considering Mary’s faithfulness, I’ve challenged myself to answer the How are you question with, “I am BLESSED!” I’m not carrying the flesh-and-blood Messiah—as Mary was—but I am a temple of the indwelling Holy Spirit. How can I not be blessed? May it be unto me according to Your word, Abba.
Tweet-A-Licious!
- Don’t get caught in big-picture glum. Live boots-on-the-ground where details of praise try to hide.
- No matter the storm, I will answer the HOW ARE YOU question with, “I am BLESSED!”
Today’s Question:
- Are you listening in the midst of the storms in your life?
Comments 20
Thank you for helping me to see through a different lens. I have been in a slump since coming home from visiting family in MI. May I continue to remember that everything I experience has already been through His hands, so He’s got this!
Once again, thank you, it’s awesome how the Lord uses certain people to help you through the rocky roads of life. Great sermon Mesu, please keep preaching lady because you have a great platform to reach many, many, ladies. Blessings!❤️🙏🏻❤️🙏🏻❤️🙏🏻❤️🙏🏻❤️🙏🏻❤️🙏🏻❤️🙏🏻❤️🙏🏻❤️🙏🏻❤️🙏🏻❤️🙏🏻
Author
Oh, Paulette, I’m sorry you’ve been facing some tough days, but I’m so thankful the Lord used my heart lesson to help you. Blessings back atcha, dear one!
I love this! I agree that it’s all about perspective- we choose what we are going to see or in some cases look past. I shared this on my facebook this week and I feel it ties into what you are saying-
Learning something from my pecan tree today….
A month or so back I noticed tent worms invading my pecan tree and it really irritated me! They absolutly decimated it, there were very few branches with more than 20% of their leaves left. Eventually the worms did their thing and moved on and my tree looked pitiful- however about a week later I noticed all this new growth! Not just new leaves but growth in the branches to make room for the leaves- my tree gained several inches everywhere the worms attacked. However that the few branches the worms missed didn’t have any growth, they just had their original leaves that were large and healthy.
It made me think about my life- if I’m honest I do everything I can to avoid tough stuff but praise God he doesn’t let me get my way! He allows trials to come and in those trials I get to grow.
Author
What a FABULOUS visual! Thanks for sharing it with us, Christen!!!
I couldn’t see a comment section on the blog for the contest asking for Daniel’s Babylonian name (Belteshazzar). So will comment here.
Author
Hi Anne!
We had a post setting wrong. So sorry! I just asked my assistant to add your name to the list manually. She’s doing it now!! Thanks for letting us know. 😉
Where are we supposed to comment Daniels Babylonian name?? Belteshazzar.
Author
Hi Tami!
We had a post setting wrong. So sorry! My assistant is adding your name to the list manually now. Thanks for letting us know!! 😉
Thank you Mesu, for such a precious word. It is so easy to get bogged down with all the storms of life that come against us. I have reached the point were I was so tired of people asking me how I was doing, concerning my health. That I have found myself avoiding them , not wanting to repeat what was happening, I wasn’t sure whether people were really interested or just wanting to be able to judge me for the times I couldn’t make myself leave the house. You have given me the perfect answer to their question , “I am blessed ” and I am so much. I pray when I am feeling overwhelmed that I remember this is like no other storm I have been through. My God is always there for me and he will see me THROUGH just as He has every other time. May I learn to be patient with people, some really are asking in love.
Author
Hi Cyndi!
Things always get more complex when we throw people into the equation. 😉 But it truly is the perfect answer: “I am blessed.” Truthful. Simple. Indisputable. What a mighty God we serve!
Belteshazzar was his Babylonian name.
Not sure if this is where the comment for the contest should be.
Author
Hi Margaret!
We had a posting problem on the contest page (So sorry!), but it’s fixed now. My assistant has added your name to the list manually. Thanks for your patience!
Great word! It reminds me of 2 Cor 4:17-18.
“ For our light and temporary affliction is producing for us an eternal glory that far outweighs our troubles. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. “
I’ve read this during difficult seasons of my life and I remember crying out to Abba once, “This isn’t a light affliction!!! It’s hard and it hurts!!!”
Then He reminded me that it was temporary. Not eternal. Focus on the eternal, not the temporary. All these ‘light afflictions’ have expiration dates, I heard once.
Abba gives me soul anchoring scriptures in my storms. It helps me so much!!! How do people without the Lord make it??
Thanks for sharing this, Mesu. Beautiful!
Author
Hi Jan! I love that Scripture broken into 3 parts (light, affliction, temporary). Because though our short-sighted, earthly sorrow sometimes gets bogged down with the heavy and hurtful, our redeemed spirits can ALWAYS agree with Abba that our circumstances are temporary. PTL!!! Awesome!
Hi Mesu. Thank you so much for sharing what you did, yes, we truly are blessed, blessed because we have an heavenly Father who loves and cares for us through the trials and the problems that we go through, cares so much, loves us so much that He gave us His only Son Christ Jesus, who died on a cruel cross so that we may be set free from the sin that bound us to this world, now we are truly free! with grace upon grace, what a privileged people we are, The Lord reminded me very recently about a picture He showed me a few years back when i was going through a really hard time with my mum who had been diagnosed with dementia, she was in and out of hospital, she had moved from one care home to another twice because they were closing down, my husband was very good, thankfully mum was oblivious to it all in the end, she didn’t recognize me, with this horrible disease i learnt that you grieve twice, once when they don’t know you any more, and then when they die, but back to the picture the Lord had shown me. I was standing in a room that had a massive big window in it, i was looking out the window and i saw this massive wave of water coming straight at me, i lifted my hands up expecting the glass to break, but then i was lead to put my arms down the water had come over me but it didn’t touch me, and it was like the Lord was saying “yes, you will look upon these trials, hurts, and feel them but they will not over power you for i am here to protect you under the shelter of my wings you will have peace” It was truly wonderful and yes blessed!! 🙂
Author
Oh, Marie, what a terribly beautiful story!!! Both heart-rending and heart-warming at the same time. I’m so deeply sorry for your experience with your mama but so thankful for the immensely intimate relationship with Jesus you experienced because of it. Thanks for sharing this. I’m sure there are others who needed to read it. <3
Thank you for sharing Robin Gunn’s teaching today. It is so encouraging and uplifting. Congratulations on the newest grandchildren.
Author
Thanks for the congrats, Kathy! Blessings on your day!
Congratulations on the birth of beautiful healthy grand babies. Thank you for sharing words of encouragement. Your storms reminds me and helps me remember that all things goes through our Father’s hand. Praises!
Blessings on you and your family as you shelter and shepherd those in need through Our Lord Jesus.
Author
Thanks so much, Karen! We’re thrilled, of course, with those precious grand babies and especially grateful even for the storms when we remember the loving Father who is with us through them.