Storms of Life

We've had some very volatile weather lately. It seems that just as we get comfortable enjoying a nice, warm sunny day, darkness looms from the east and before we know it, we're grabbing umbrellas and running for cover. Wait. Did I just describe the weather or was that life in general? I don't know where you live, but in most areas of this earth, the climate very much resembles real life. Real life is a series of beautiful days marred by days of darkness and despair. While we soon know this to be true, if we begin to look at life as one natural disaster after another, we would stay in a continual state of despair. Likewise, we must realize that warm, sunny days are never here to stay and to believe that would surely bring a life of unfulfilled expectations. Not counting disasters that happen out of our control, humans have a way of bringing storms of hard times on themselves as well. Our family has endured some storms in the last few years, some of a natural disaster state, like the deaths of both of the patriarchs and some of the man-made variety, like the divorce of my son and his wife. With both events, our hearts grieved and, for a time, we thought life would not go back to "sunny" again. But, it did. We held on to our faith in God and we looked to our family and friends for support and, in time, we came to a place where the sun shines and we can smile again. The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 1:3 "All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort—we get a full measure of that, too." What a great testimony to looking to God and friends to help us through hard times. If you are going through some difficult days, don't do it alone. Please tell someone that you love and trust. Ask God to put someone in your life to hold your hand. Then, give all of it to God.