He is Our Storm Chaser

Most of my posts come from my own personal life experiences with the sincere hope that what I share will encourage and even open your eyes to our great Storm Chaser. I learned some very difficult lessons the hard way so my goal is to pass along the wisdom from those lessons to give you shortcuts to your prayers being answered and your faith increased.

It's our human nature to have the mindset: "I've got to figure this out on my own!" Many times, seeking God for the answer is the last thing we do to escape our storms. "I've tried everything else. I might as well, as a last resort ask God for help! Instead of asking "God, can't you see how great my storms are", we should be saying "Storms, can't you see how big my God is?"

The disciples passed their lessons learned onto us. We can learn a lot from their mistakes if we would not go the way of their lack of faith. They knew Jesus was on land and they discounted that He was the authentic, unparalleled STORM CHASER and PEACE MAKER. They toiled and feared, but Christ was praying on the shore for them. He saw the storm come up. HE SAW. He knew. And He sees and knows the storms we're going through. They are no surprise to Him. In fact, they are part of His plan to build our faith and trust in Him more. He is hearing our prayers in the midst of OUR storms and He will carry us safely to the other side.

We can know this: There is no difficulty in life that is stronger than Jesus. We can face our difficult times with courage because He promised to ALWAYS be with us! I love knowing that His peace is ours in the midst of our storms....and how reassuring to know that right behind this storm is a rainbow of blessing! He promised it, and I've come to count on it! Since we know our circumstances are no surprise to Him, let’s surprise Him with our trust in Him – in all circumstances and in all seasons.

The calm and quiet nature of Christ is what calms the storms in our life and in others. By sharing the presence of Christ within us, we introduce the nature of Christ. He is our Storm Chaser. He pursues us to let us know that we can trust Him. He calms our storms when we ask Him.

Dear Lord, we come to you and ask you to increase our faith. We acknowledge that one of the best ways to grow in faith is to experience storms in our life. For only in those times, can we exercise and experience trust, so that we may receive true peace and increase our confidence in You. By growing in our trust, we receive the calm and quiet nature of Your presence. May people be attracted to my soul that expresses calm in any and every situation. I invite you into my boat and ask you to take control. Amen.

Here is That Rainbow I've Been Praying For

Yesterday I was listening to the downpour of rain. I knew the outdoor event I was attending would be postponed. But, we had seen the forecast, so it was already planned that the event would resume later in the day when the rain was gone. I thought about this old song:
I can see clearly now the rain is gone
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It's gonna be a bright, bright sun-shining day

Oh yes I can make it now the pain is gone
All of the bad feelings have disappeared
Here is that rainbow I've been praying for
It's gonna be a bright, bright sun-shining day

Don’t those words express how we feel when, at last, the verdict comes out in our favor? Or, when the medical procedure or test reveals no disease? Or the baby is delivered after many hours of labor? Or the final exam grades were good enough to pass or even to earn a scholarship? Or any other test or trial that we go through that seems to have no end, but THEN, the bright, sun-shining day makes its way through to us.

Now, we’re singing a song of rejoicing because the obstacles that seemed insurmountable, the dark clouds, the pain, and the rain, are gone. All along God was there and we see the results of the work He has been doing in our lives. Oh, happy day! When we are going through difficult times, it is hard to see God’s Master Plan at work and, for goodness sake, we wonder what benefit could He possibly have in mind in the midst of our trials. The wait. Oh, the patience we must have during the wait. Why, Lord, does it take so long? Again, we hear. “Be patient, my child, I am working all things for your good. I promise you, you will thank me later.”

The Apostle James expressed it this way: “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.” (James 1:2-4). Count it for joy? Seriously?

In God’s grand scheme of things…..the trials and the tests make us stronger. Our spiritual and moral fiber is being strengthened. Our story will soon have silver linings and it will be one, not only for the record books, but it will be a story that glorifies God and gives testimony to others of God’s amazing grace.

So now, we carry on. We pick up our swords and our crosses and we carry them with honor to the finish line. It won’t be much longer and it will be a bright sun-shining day again. The rainbow that we’ve been praying for will soon appear. What if trials of this life -- the rain, the storms, the hardest nights, are God’s mercies in disguise?

“Weeping may last for the night, but there is a song of joy in the morning.” Psalm 30:5.

Behind the Storm is a Rainbox of Blessing

Most of my posts are from my own personal life experiences. St. Paul said, in 2 Corinthians 1:4 "That you may be comforted with the same comfort that I have been comforted with." And, indeed, iit is MY utmost desire is to comfort others with the same comfort that I have been comforted with during my own difficult times. I so want to help others learn their lessons.....much faster than I did.

I found that when the storms come, it's just our human nature to have the mindset that, "I've got to figure this out. I've got to work this out on my own!" And, oftentimes, praying and seeking God for the answer is the last thing we do to escape our storms. "Well, I've tried everything else.....so as a last resort, "I'll ask God for help!"

The disciples knew Jesus was on land and they discounted the fact that He was the authentic, unparalled STORM CHASER and PEACE MAKER. They toiled and feared, but Christ was praying on the shore for them because He saw the storm come up. And we should realize that He sees and knows the storms we're going through and He is hearing our prayers in the midst of OUR storms.

We can know this: There is no difficulty in life that is stronger than Jesus. We can face our difficult times with courage because He promised to ALWAYS be with us! I love knowing that His peace is ours in the midst of our storms....and how reassuring to know that right behind this storm is a rainbow of blessing! He promised it, and I've come to count on it!

And, I Think to Myself......What a Wonderful World!

I’m loving being in WA and back to my routine of taking my two youngest grandsons to school and picking them up in the afternoon! Yesterday morning, as we headed out of the driveway, we heard on the radio, Louis Armstrong singing “And I think to myself, “What a Wonderful World”. Suddenly, I had a sweet memory. As Louis’ song continued, it was the background as I told them this story:

“It was our first morning home from the hospital, and the doctors had just told us they had done all they could do to help Papa get well. Papa was lying in his bed. Do you remember how he could see the lake from the bed?" Both of the boys remembered. I went on, “I can’t even imagine all that must have been going on in Papa’s head as he looked out our bedroom windows that were open wide that morning. Wasn’t it so cool how Papa and Nana’s window faced the little lake (the accompanying picture is that view)? I’ll bet Papa was thinking about you guys and what fun he had fishing with you down there! It was such a beautiful morning. The water was smooth as glass, the fish were jumping, and the birds were chirping really loud. Then the doorbell rang. It was our new Social Worker, Melvin – a really sweet African American man, who was so happy and joyful. A social worker is someone who cheers you up if you might be sad. I think God picked him just for us. After he asked us lots of questions, I asked what he liked to do. He said he loves singing in his church’s choir, so I asked if he’d sing a song for us. He immediately began singing. He had a great voice, and he was singing this song that we’re listening to, right now. Just think about what Papa was thinking when he heard these words:

I see trees of green, red roses, too. I see them bloom for me and you.
And I think to myself, “what a wonderful world”.
I see skies of blue and clouds of white, the bright blessed day, the dark sacred night. And I think to myself, “what a wonderful world”.
The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky. Are also on the faces of people going by, I see friends shaking hands, saying "How do you do?" They're really saying "I love you".
I hear babies cry, I watch them grow. They'll learn much more than I'll ever know. And I think to myself, “what a wonderful world”. Yes I think to myself, “what a wonderful world”.

Brennan said, “What did Papa do?” I said, “He smiled real big!” Brennan said, “That’s what I thought!” And I replied, "And he's still smiling real big, and he's probably singing "And I think to myself, what a wonderful HEAVEN!" We all laughed because we just KNEW that's what Papa is doing!

Try to be a Rainbow in Somebody's Cloud

I never followed Maya Angelou’s life or writings much, but hearing of her passing from this life, I was drawn to know more about what made her so endearing. In stature, she was six feet tall, but the imprint she left because of her remarkable life is beyond measure. She was raped by her mother's boyfriend at the age of seven. She testified against the man, who was later beaten to death by a mob. She said, "My 7-1/2-year-old logic deduced that my voice had killed him, so I stopped speaking for almost six years."

She dropped out of school at age 14 to become the city's first African-American female cable car conductor. She later returned to high school, graduated at 17, and gave birth a few weeks later. Maya never went to college, but she learned six languages and received more than 30 honorary doctoral degrees. She taught American studies at Wake Forest University, worked with Martin Luther King to advance civil rights, and published best-selling works of fiction and poetry. In 2010, she was awarded the Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor.

When I saw this quote by her, “Try to be a rainbow in somebody’s cloud”, I felt her tender heart. That quote came from a book, "Letter to My Daughter", she wrote, and dedicated to the daughter she never had. In the book she shared about her tumultuous life that taught her lessons in compassion and fortitude: how she was brought up by her indomitable grandmother in segregated Arkansas, taken in at thirteen by her more worldly and less religious mother, and grew to be an awkward, six-foot-tall teenager whose first experience of loveless sex, paradoxically, left her with her greatest gift, a son.

I wanted to share a little about her here because, once again, we see how miserable someone’s life started…..didn't determine where she ended up. But where she started, was the seed for the harvest of blessings later in life. She put the past behind, but used it to fuel her future. She determined to move forward with a tenacious faith and will to make life better for herself and others. And the moral of this post, is to urge you and I to take the mistakes, failures, disappointments and miseries of our past, and use them to propel us to our future, and to help others along the way. In fact – let’s be the rainbows in other people's clouds. That would be a grand starting point in writing OUR memoirs!