Conquering your Storm

How do you manage the storms in your life? All of us encounter them in the natural as well as the spiritual world. As a matter of fact it has been said we are either going into, in the middle of, or coming out of a storm in our lives. So the issue is not will we face one, but what will we do when it comes? There are several alternatives to choose from. Just last evening the weather man in our area forecast a serious thunderstorm with the possibility of a tornado. Upon hearing this several people were nervous and wanted to run for shelter. That’s the normal inclination when dealing with the natural. However, when facing the spiritual our approach must be radically different. We cannot hide nor run from our storms. The best option for survival is to walk through them. This is the instruction Jesus gave his disciples in Matthew chapter 8. They were fearful at the thought of perishing and were looking for some means of escape. They cried out to the Lord and he responded as if to say “boys you can’t run from it, you’ve got to walk through it. So how did they survive? The answer was so adequately expressed recently in one of our morning services by a guest speaker. They made it through because of Jesus’ closeness—he was with them in the boat; they made it because of his care—he spoke to their need; they made it because of his control—he spoke to the wind and waves and they were immediately calmed. The same holds true for us today. Our survival is wrapped up in our remembering that we always have his presence—“Fear not;” we always have his promise—“have faith;” and we always have his power—“winds be calm.” With those factors we can face any storm that comes our way so why not conquer your storm!