Riding the storm

Firstly, let me apologize for not posting this sooner….It’s been a busy couple of weeks, loads of learning and trying to understand the various twists and turns that life has taken……

The thing that I want to blog about is on the topic of riding the storm…..Sometimes, things go from bad, to better and then back to bad…….Or sometimes they go from bad to worse, to worst, and then better and then back to bad and when that happens, what do you do?

Do you feel sad? Do you reject God, despise His teaching, feel condemned and then act out, neglecting the faith that you have built long and hard over the years?

A similar thing happened to me the last couple of weeks……..Everything was going well, super….it looked like everything was going well, but then suddenly, things got from great to bad and I was left wondering…..What went wrong?………

As I was studying God’s word, I came upon Paul in Acts…..I am sure you all know the story of this great apostle, who started off by being persecuted and then later came to a point to where the Lord confronted Him and suddenly, his whole destiny changed around……..and he became the great emissary of the Gospel…….

When I was looking at Paul’s life….things were topsey turvey in his life after that amazing encounter…..He was constantly getting whipped, rejected, jailed, shipwrecked, etc……Paul went through all sorts of issues, all sorts of challenges and frustrations, but in all things, He managed to ride the storms that life brought his way……

In particular, towards the end of Acts, Paul is shipwrecked on the island of Malta, and while he is still in recovery mode from being shipwrecked, a snake jumps onto him and bites him…..

Now, most of us would have been like, WAT THE .&%$@! I know I would have been in a huff and a puff…..First, to be shipwrecked, and then a venomous snake jumps on my hand and bites me…….O Lord, what is going on?

But I read on, I find that Paul, other than getting perplexed, shook the snake off, the snake fell into the fire, and Paul miraculously recovered from the snake bite……

Now, while the snake jumped onto Paul’s hand, his companions believed that Paul was a murderer….but when the snake jumped off his hand and fell into the fire, and he didn’t die from the bite, the same companions believed that he was a god……Then later, Paul goes ahead and heals the sick on the island…….

What am I saying, even when life throws at us unlikely situations, God still expects us to show forth His glory and show forth His grace…..God expects us to keep our cool and to ride the storm, even when the waters rage, He expects us to trust in Him enough and to understand that it only takes a word from the Master for the winds to be still and the waters to become clear again……..

Even when life throws us many weird, incomprehensible situations, God expects that we trust in Him enough to know that He has our good in mind, and that He is still watching over us as His beloved……

In Romans 1:17, Paul tells us that the “just shall live by faith”…..When life throws us weird curve balls, and things get from bad to worse, even when we don’t understand what is going on, we need to understand that God wants us to live not by sight, but by faith…..He wants us to see not with our physical eyes, but our spiritual eyes…..He expects us to be able to discern the times, and to understand that no matter what life throws at us, He is able to bring us to completion, to a good and perfect end…….

Is it scary to trust God again when life has thrown us a weird curve ball? Yes……but do it anyway…..He is still watching over you, and you in Him have what it takes to overcome, even this……….

God bless you richly as you read this…………

Drink your cup

OK, I know if you are reading this, you must be like WAT? Let me explain……

Life has a way of throwing all sorts of stuff at you….frustration, joy, love, peace, difficulty, trials, etc., whatever……..And then you feel all disappointed, all vexed, all discouraged, all infuriated, all frustrated, all rejected, despised, downcast and humiliated………

Is that normal? Sadly yes…….Christ said that in this world, we will have diverse troubles………and boy was He not kidding about that…..In my life, it seems like things get better altogether, and then just as quickly, they get worse again…..and then it becomes a cyclical pattern of joy meets frustration meets joy again, meets discouragement again………….

Recently, the cycle restarted again……things went from great to bad to worse and while I was still looking on, it seemed like I was back at Stage I…..And while I felt humiliated, discouraged, frustrated and abandoned, things began to brighten up when I remembered a couple of things……..

I looked at Christ’s ministry on earth and I realized that He too went through trying and difficult moments……..He prayed that the cup of suffering be removed from Him, but not His will be done, but God’s……It was such a challenging thing for me to understand that some cups need to be borne and their contents drunk as they are……And Jesus drank His cup of suffering with humility and honor before God that we may all be restored back to Him who has loved us relentlessly……..

And thus life sometimes throws us strange and interesting situations……..Things get from bad to worse, and the challenges of life may make it difficult to see the Light of the World before us….I am reminded that the Lord’s ways are not our ways, and that His thoughts are not ours……

Fortunately, that which happens in my life is in submission to Him, and that He knows what is going on in my life, and that He is able to sustain and deliver me from the trials and frustrations in life...I am reminded that life will give us bitter pills to swallow……and that the Lord expects us to speak to Him, let Him know what’s going on, and to trust Him to handle the situation as He deems fit.

Just like Christ prayed and asked that his cup of suffering be taken away from him, but not his will but God’s, I understand that I too need to be willing to drink the cups that are set before me, understanding that I need to let God’s will be done and not mine.

My encouragement to you is that no matter what life throws at you, bring it to God, and learn to drink whatever cups the Lord sets before you….If it is a cup of suffering, of honor, of disappointment, of dishonor, of whatever, drink it in honor and with understanding that if the Lord be with you, nothing can be against you……..

I am reminded of Romans 8:37 “We are more than conquerors through him that loved us”