We know storms are big and rough, and we know our God is bigger. We know He can calm the storm, remove it completely. And that is what most of us hope for. That is also what most of us get completely discouraged and fall into despair over. The storm is not budging! In fact, for some, it seems to be getting worse instead of better, or simply not changing at all.

If our only hope is in the storm stopping, we will miss out on some amazing things that happen WHILE the storm is still raging.

Jesus was awakened to calm the storm, but not without a lesson. 

He said to His disciples,  “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith and confidence [in Me]?”  MARK 4:40 AMP

You have such an opportunity as the storm rages to BUILD YOUR FAITH! 

The storm brings people to crossroads all the time. They can take the road of “Where are you God? Why are you not helping me, stopping this?” Down this road are feelings that God is not for them, not caring or taking care of them at all. They feel unloved and rejected by Him because He has not stopped the storm and calmed things. Deep hurts will give way to bitterness and rebellion and eventually a hard heart. Some will walk away from the Stand and find new love, instead of walking away from God. Buying into the lie that God wants them to be happy and to move on.

But there is another way. To embrace this storm and accept that it’s going to rage and it may be here for a while….a long while. But God has given us a promise to ground and root ourselves on during this storm.

If you have never been in a place of perfect peace that comes from HIM, while things are raging out of control, then you are missing out on experiencing His love for you. 

I fell in love with God because of the ways He loved me and showed Himself to me. NOT because He was calming or removing the storm. He showed me how He could take situations and give me His peace, His joy, and His purpose if I only trusted in Him and leaned on Him instead of what I was seeing and feeling. He took my trust and gave me back an amazing encounter and experience with Him.

It did not come easy. I’m not going to lie and deceive you. I had to make a choice every second of the day to trust Him and not what was going on. And, I failed MORE than I succeeded. BUT, if I had succeeded more, I would have been in perfect peace more often. I feel like I cycled through anger, hurt, doubt…and then made the choice to trust and be confident in Him and Who He is which would calm me and bring me back into His peace. Only to start all over again and again. I have gotten really good at encouraging myself and pep talking myself. 

“Sheila, God has this and it’s all going to be ok. Chose to trust Him, thank Him and worship Him because you know God is doing something far bigger and greater right now even when you can’t see or possibly understand it all. You know God loves your spouse and wants ALL things to work out for good and He has good plans to bring you both to full healing and not harm you. He wants this family to fully serve Him, not the enemy. So you must thank Him for what you KNOW He is doing, even when your eyes can’t see. Even when it seems all that is being done is bringing out the worst. TRUST HIM with your thanksgiving! “

And that is the talk I had with myself over and over and over and over. Instead of saying “God why are you NOT doing anything?” I said, “God I thank You for what you ARE DOING.” I knew when I doubted God was doing anything, I was heading into a place of enemy territory where I would blame God, be hurt and disappointed and feel rejected by Him. That only leads to rebellion and lawlessness. 

When we fight against the storm to stop, instead of using the storm to create in us more faith, more trust, more confidence in our Father, we are robbing ourselves. 

  • People who tend to feel sorry for themselves and be stuck in ‘victim’ mentality can be transformed into confident, mature, powerful faith-filled Children when they embrace the storm as something they are going to USE for good.
  • Controlling and manipulating people can be transformed when they use the storm to teach them to trade that control for trust and let go of the need to know everything for only needing to know “He has this” and that is enough to know! 
  • Gullible and timid people can learn to use wisdom to guide them and be transformed into a bold eagle that soars above the lies of the enemy. 

All this comes from the storms! We didn’t create them. God didn’t stop them, but we sure can use them! It starts with a choice. 

Will you ride the waves and draw closer to Him? Or turn against Him and keep getting dragged under?

Standing with you,
Sheila Hollinger