Strength
to Rise Above Every Storm
“The boat was filling up with water, they were
in real danger. The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Master , Master, we’re going to drown!” When
Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and the raging waves. The storm stopped and
all was calm! Then he asked them, “Where is your faith?”
Luke 8:22-25 NLT
I listened with intent interest the year I was about
ten, to a story around the church campfire about keeping our eyes on God and
not the storm.
Our counselor was a great story teller and began by
saying, “The weather was changing from sunny skies to skies filled with bulging
thunder clouds. The wind was picking up and dust devils spun crazy-like across
the fields. People stopped what they were doing to look up at a sizeable storm
approaching fast. But to my surprise my grandmother was smiling as she looked
up into the sky and was pointing out something there for me to see.”
“What is it?” I asked her squinting hard to see.
“I see the eagle, who looks to God and not the storm.
He trusts the Lord to get him above the storm and never worries how he will get
through it. “
He shared
how it’s true the eagle does know when a storm is approaching long before it
breaks. It will fly to some high area and wait for the winds to come. When the
storm hits, it sets its wings so that the wind will pick it up and lift it
above the storm. While the storm rages below, the eagle is able to soar above
it. The eagle doesn’t escape the storm, it simply uses the storm to lift it
higher.
As I grew up I found that God does the very same
for us. He uses the storm to lift us higher and closer to Him, He uses it to
build our strength, our faith and our hope. He may take us around them, high
above them, or He may choose to hold our hand tightly to get through them.
Through the years
there were many storms too big for me to fly above, too large to soar over and
too powerful to get through on my own strength. I learned God can do all three.
He will be right beside us, He blesses us with courage and strength to endure and
uses the Holy Spirit wind to rise us above every storm.
“God does not give us overcoming life-He gives us
life as we overcome. The strain of life is what builds our strength. If there
is no strain, there will be no strength….But a saint can “be of good cheer”
even when seemingly defeated by adversities, because victory is absurdly
impossible to everyone, except God.” Oswald Chambers -My Upmost for His Highest
“Strength to Rise Above Every Storm” by Dee Kamp,
Grace Every Morning Ministries© June 25, 2015
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