Before The Storms Come
By Rosella Shishido, Communications Ministry Coordinator
I’m a glass-half-full kind of person. Staying hopeful and seeing the bright side of things isn’t hard for me, generally. I acknowledge, however, that life isn’t always peachy. Problems arise. Tragedies happen. No one is a stranger to pain and suffering. Not one. It comes to all of us, sooner or later.
God calls us to stand firm in our faith, but how do we do that when problems come out of nowhere and hits us like a sucker-punch?
Preparing for something that we know will happen is a way to overcome challenges and difficult situations. In other words, the preparation and training need to happen first.
Consider these. It would be too late for students to start studying ON THE DAY OF the exam. It would be too late for runners to train for long-distance running ON THE DAY OF the marathon. It would be too late for football players to start extreme workouts for strength and agility AFTER the game has started. It would be too late for astronauts to go through survival training AFTER they have launched into space.
And since we already know that the storms of life can happen anytime and anywhere, it only makes sense to prepare ourselves spiritually BEFORE the storms come.
Standing firm in the faith in spite of difficult circumstances requires a deep and close relationship with God, which doesn’t just happen overnight. It requires regular investments of time to be with God in prayer, in reading the Bible, in meditating on it, and in being quiet and still so we can listen in our spirit to what the Lord might be saying to us. If you’re already doing this, bravo! Keep doing it! But if you haven’t yet, it’s best to not put it off another day.
But it’s so easy to forget the Lord when all is going well, isn’t it? Spending time with Him somehow ends up in the back burner until .... boom! The storms come, and instead of putting our confidence in the Almighty God, we crumble and succumb to fear and despair because we are ill-prepared for the inevitable arrival of pain and suffering in life.
“Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15)
If you’re in a difficult situation right now, take heart and cling to the Lord because He can identify with what you’re going through. He’s no stranger to pain having gone through tremendous suffering and a horrific death on the cross for you and me.
If you’re in good situation right now, I’m happy for you! I encourage you to to get even closer to the Lord, even if you’re not in dire need of His help. He loves you dearly and wants nothing short of a deep and vibrant relationship with you. Consider this time as a time of preparation, so you can stand firm with the Lord and remain hopeful when (not if) the next storm comes.
Prayer: Please help us, Lord, to be intentional about setting aside quality time with You. We want to learn to trust You more and more each day, so that we can stay strong in our faith in You as we weather the storms of life. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
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