Good morning! Hope you’all are well during this crazy time in our world. How are the storms in your life? We all have them. We are either waiting for a storm, in a storm or coming out of a storm. This has been very true for my life. Yesterday we had bad weather here. Thank goodness not the tornados that some of our southern neighbors went through! As I laid down last night, mother nature had been putting on a show! It made me think about the storms of life.
We all go through these storms. Be it with a job, family member, relationships, health and storms within ourselves. Some are like a gentle rain and some are like a tsunami. Some cause so much damage you aren’t sure you can build it back and some just wash off the grit and grime. I have had my share of storms and know there will always be more storms in the future. Do you stand on the ledge fearful of what is coming or do you rest peacefully knowing that you will survive? I think that answer may depend on the storms you have survived thus far. Some of you have battled a health crisis, abuse, infidelity, made to feel you don’t matter, waiting on love or hurt by love. There are so many hurts in our world. We do have a choice, we either sink or we cling to the hope of new days and new beginnings and strength to face all of this. There are always choices in the storms. We either succumb to the storms of life or we hang on until we reach the shore. Life is always about choices.
My storms are trivial to some of yours. That is the thing about storms, the intensity can vary for each person, but it doesn’t mean it wasn’t a struggle or battle. Some of my storms have been life changing through a very hard divorce with some abuse, a child diagnosed with autism, raising two kids on my own, some health challenges, loss of a parent and prior to that so many family members passed away, and wanting an everlasting love in my life. I know some of you shake your head and have so many more hurts and storms that are more intense. Think for a minute how our storms change us. We sometimes get so overwhelmed we are drowning in a storm of emotions, we lose our way. We become weary, beaten down, roughed up by a raging sea of hurt. But as we ride the waves of this storm, the sea becomes calmer, we are able to breathe again and we see the shore. We reach the shore tired but clean. We lay down in that warm soft sand, we smile as we look back across the stormy sea that we survived and are thankful to have survived and take a break until the next storm arises. We learned how to navigate that storm and it made us stronger. For some, they never leave the storm. They want to be a storm chaser that never leaves the field. They stay so lost in their storm that they never heal. These truly are just word pictures for the hurt we endure. Look at things you have been through in your life. Do you feel like you learned from it or did it damage you so bad that you are lost at sea? Did your storm make you better or bitter? It all goes back to choices my friends.
I haven’t always made the best choices in life. I have had moments of being bitter, moments of anxiety, moments of being alone with my thoughts and just plain alone. I carried such guilt for a failed marriage. I felt like a failure that I couldn’t make my marriage work. It wasn’t always bad. It boiled down to choices, choices we both made. I chose safety and peace and he made other choices. Being a single mom for almost 18 years has been moments of doubt, overwhelming responsibilities, laughter and tears and so much love. My kids didn’t ask to be here or go through what they did, but they are two of the most precious people and shine brighter than any piece of sea glass and they are my heartbeats. That is a storm that I would go through time and time again! I have dated over the last few years and didn’t make the best choices. They didn’t make the best choices. I learned alot. I learned I need to stop being anxious. Anxious that I won’t be loved, that I am not worthy of love and affection and not made to doubt myself. I learned I expect alot from a partner but expect more out of myself. I learned my love languages and most of all I learned to heal. I am not perfect and have faults and failures. But more than that, I am more than my faults and failures,more than my outward shell, more than just a physical being. How about you? Who are you and what do you want from life? What have you learned from your storms? Are you better or bitter? I will admit there have been moments of bitterness. Bitterness about having to navigate this life without a partner while everyone else is coupled off. Anger and hurt from the storm others caused in my life; disappointment in myself and self doubt and negative thoughts about myself. But I can’t stay in that vortex of those thoughts or I would be loss at sea. I have had to have alot of talks with myself, alot of forgiveness for myself and alot of healing for myself. Some of my storms were my own doing, some caused by other people and some just were caused by circumstances. Whatever the cause of the storm, we have to navigate it and learn from it. I share parts of me here not for pity, not to play the victim card, not for any other reason but to be real. To maybe share a thought, maybe to shine a light in your life or make you think. To share life with whomever wants to read this. The thing is when you travel the storms of life with someone, and if you are blessed to have your person to navigate this life or your closest friends and family with you, navigating storms becomes so much easier. And lastly if you have Jesus, he is the ultimate storm navigator in our lives.
Last night when there was lightening and thunder rolling, I wasn’t afraid. I laid my head down trusting the One who calms the seas and calms the storms in me. I rested knowing I was ok. I rested knowing that the storm was raging, that life may not be all I want right now but it is all I need. There is something that soothes me when there is a thunderstorm. I know that sounds crazy. The power of the storm, the thunder rolling and the light show that proceeds it. The raw power,the cleansing rain, nestled down knowing that I have no control over that storm but that Jesus does. That for all the storms in my life and I have a couple right now, He is there during it all. That once the storm is over, there is a calmness, a cleansing and healing and growth that follows. That each person’s storms and worries are just intense and maybe if we threw out a life preserver and less judgement, we can help someone else to shore. That we are never alone in our storms of life. They happen but what we do before, during and after the storms shape us as much as that piece of sea glass. Imagine being in that boat with Jesus and the storm was raging and Jesus was calm and the storm listened to him. The peace that comes from only Him. I want that calm in my life despite the storms. What do you want? Where are you in the storms of life? I would be fine without a few storms, I would be more than fine for everyone to be well and happy and safe, I would be more than fine to be with my partner that wants and loves all of me, I would be more than fine for peace in life and in this world. Maybe if we stopped focusing on the destructions of the storms but chased the rainbows that come after the storm it would change our focus, it would change each of us. So when the storm rages outside your windows and in your heart, know there is an anchor, there is a purpose for the storm and a new beginning. Here is to all of that and more, here is to new days and new chapters. Chase those rainbows my friends and rest in the One who calms you and knows the storms you have been through and loves you no matter what you have done and no matter who you are. Stay well and stay safe and embrace the storms my dears!
