Storms. Not so bad.

I was harshly awakaned to the sound of pounding rain and roaring winds at 2 a.m. I stumbled around half asleep for my remote and turned on the news. The steady sound of the weather man's voice arrived in my room before the picture appeared. My tired eyes slowly adjusted to the bright light as my heart pounded at the rise of the winds. I looked at the TV and saw a red line across the area I live. No tornadoes but heavy winds. As the weather man barely got out the word 'hail', I heard it begin hammering away on my roof like nails. From the combination of being tired and reassured by Mr. Weather man, I turned off the TV and went back to sleep feeling indifferent. I said a silent prayer of protection and drifted back to dreamland.

So speaking of rain and water and wetness, I walked out to my car this morning and got my feet soaked from the rain a few hours before. I stand reminded today of how similar last night's storm is to the storms of life. You might be coasting along happy and content, or well rested, when all of a sudden a storm wakes you out of your rest and your heart starts racing from anxiety. Normally I take the care of storms and let myself get frightened. I think if I stay up and listen to it or watch the weather that will somehow soothe me. Although it doesn't stop the storm, and I'm not fixing anything by worrying about it, I still stay up and lose sleep. Last night I chose to trust God. I prayed a simple prayer, "God, please protect me. You always have and there is no reason you won't do it now. So thank your for peace and protection, and I'm going back to sleep now."

A simple prayer is really all it takes. We get in the mind set that everything has to be so complex to get across to God. You have to get on your knees, cross your hands, bow your head, spin around 3 times... anyway, it's not hard. In life when storms come your way, all you have to do is thank Him. Thank Him for protecting you, keeping you, and giving you peace. You can't really do anything about it anyway. Sure you can stay up and worry all night, but it does no good because nothing can be done in your own strength very long without failing.

So that old saying, "Let go and let God" is just very true. God created us in such a beautiful way. We were given a free will to choose how we want to live. We have choices. But the funny thing is, He made it impossible to live without Him. I mean, truly live. Life. When you give your life to Christ and you dive into the ocean of His love and forgiveness and choose to follow Him, then your life is no longer your own. So that must mean your battles and storms are not yours to fight. Do your part and thats to pray and trust God that He will take care of you. Think of a time when He didn't? You might say, "well that one time when this happened and I got.. well, where was God then?" He was right there. Did you cry out to Him? Did you grab His reaching out hands? Never blame God for bad. He isn't capable of it. He is love. And He also can't love you more than He already does. And He loves you with the same love He loves Jesus. So that must be pretty good.

So, when lifes storms wake you up in a panic in the middle of the night, remember that you are not alone, and God will move mountains for you. You just have to give Him the authority to do it. Thats done through faith. Faith is obtained through hearing the Word of God. Go grab yourself some faith today!