Riding Out the Storm
There are many storms in life that we will face as we sail on the waters of our destiny. It can be difficult when a storm has lasted to the point that it no longer feels like a storm but has instead become the reality of life. When the waves have lifted and dashed us so many times that we don't even want to soar because the crash just isn't worth it. When all on board our ship seem to be telling us to jump, abandon, or just give up hope. Perhaps for a while we do...sit down with our head in our hands and let the water rise and the ship abandon course. The salt water of our tears so mixed with the ocean flowing in that we no longer can tell the difference between the two mingling. There have been times like this when somehow our ship limps to calmer waters and we look to see where we are and the damage all around...then we start to rebuild...try to figure out how to get back on coarse.
Then there are the times when we remember to open up the Captain's logs and see if a storm like this has ever been met and how it was faced and survived. And as we read somehow something in us lifts and we are guided and filled with Joy for no reason other than that hope has been reset...power lies in the Logs of the Captain. Psalm 119:92 If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction. Then we rise from the bile water of our self pity. Force our weak and tired legs up the stairs to the wheel, not because we feel that we can but because we know that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us who sailed these waters before, who fills us with His Spirit who has safely guided all who have ever called on His name. And we grab the flailing spindles of our little ship's helm and hold steady for the coarse set before us. Laughing and singing with each rise and each dip with rain and wind whipping around us, blinding us.
Nothing has changed
Those around us yell at us, our own mind's call us crazy, and for a time that's what we are...how we look but that Joy...that unspeakable Joy that rises up inside and bubbles through our fear leads us on. His word holds us steady filling us continually and we don't know how or why, but we just keep on steady with the course the Captain set in our hearts. While we may not know how long this storm will last we do know that blue skies await, that calmer seas will appear that our ship hope is unsinkable. SO we can face this storm and let ourselves be crazy with a hope and Joy that is not our own. Steady to the coarse we have been given because we know that He will see us home.
Then there are the times when we remember to open up the Captain's logs and see if a storm like this has ever been met and how it was faced and survived. And as we read somehow something in us lifts and we are guided and filled with Joy for no reason other than that hope has been reset...power lies in the Logs of the Captain. Psalm 119:92 If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction. Then we rise from the bile water of our self pity. Force our weak and tired legs up the stairs to the wheel, not because we feel that we can but because we know that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us who sailed these waters before, who fills us with His Spirit who has safely guided all who have ever called on His name. And we grab the flailing spindles of our little ship's helm and hold steady for the coarse set before us. Laughing and singing with each rise and each dip with rain and wind whipping around us, blinding us.
Nothing has changed
Those around us yell at us, our own mind's call us crazy, and for a time that's what we are...how we look but that Joy...that unspeakable Joy that rises up inside and bubbles through our fear leads us on. His word holds us steady filling us continually and we don't know how or why, but we just keep on steady with the course the Captain set in our hearts. While we may not know how long this storm will last we do know that blue skies await, that calmer seas will appear that our ship hope is unsinkable. SO we can face this storm and let ourselves be crazy with a hope and Joy that is not our own. Steady to the coarse we have been given because we know that He will see us home.
Its irony because the day after I wrote this I found myself sobbing on my living room floor feeling overwhelmed and like a complete failure in life. Every condemning voice in the world was flooding my mind and each person who thought I shld be taking a different path or doing something different was glaring at me their recommendations for my life like silent billboards of standards I had not met. I think I have come so far in not being a people pleaser and trusting God and then boom! Nope! I think I have re centered and am clinging to the truth of Christ only to find out I am truly grounded on peoples opinions of me and the whiplash that brings to my Life. OH God I want only you!! I want to care only about your will and opinion! Why do I chase after lies!! And believe that my value lies in making others happy!! Help me Lord to find my center in You and You alone. You are my Rock and my Salvation. You are my strong tower that I seek. Let your words and your opinion be all that matters to me. You say I am loved, I am secure, that you have a plan for me and that if I seek you I will find you, that whether I turn to the right or the left my ears will hear a voice saying this is the way....walk in it. And thank you Father for good friends who point me back to your loving kindness!!
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