When the rain comes

 ²⁹ He stilled the storm to a whisper; 
       the waves of the sea were hushed.

Psalm 107:29

I took this picture when my family was in the Keys this past June.  

Since this picture, I have felt God warning me of a storm coming my way.  I kept trying to ignore the gentle warnings because who wants to hear that they they are getting ready to go int

o a difficult season of their life.  

I think a lot of people are walking through a storm right now though.  At first, we want to fight it and pray against the storm, that it will go away, but sometimes I think that God wants our re

sponse to be surrender and obedience.  Although it may break God's heart to see us in pain, he sees a bigger pictures and asks us to walk through the storm.  

In the midst of the rain and storms of life and sometimes the hurricanes, we experience God's reign in our lives like we can't experience when life is bright and sunny. 

So, I throw my hands up and stop fighting against it.  I walk down the narrow path that he leads me into and ask Him to help me be teachable and not fight against Him, so that I don't have to stay in the storm longer than need be.  

As my world clouds over and nothing seem

s to make sense, God becomes brighter and closer than ever before - He becomes my refuge and protection.  

The storm I feared becomes a place of sweet peace with my heavenly father.  I experience a closeness I did not experience when everything in life was sunny.   In the midst of the storm, He is near and His love is more evident and intimate than in the brightest moments of my life. 

I am reading Matthew 14:22-35 today.