The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore.

Vincent van Gogh

Have you experienced storms in your life? Times when things just did not make sense. Times when our problems seemed big and faith seemed small. Times when we feel scared that we are going to be taken over by the storms, insecure, afraid, and uncertain. We all have gone through such storms in life and some of us are going through them right now.

There are certain events in our lives that sometimes come that dampen our spirits. Trials and storms are part of one’s existence. Without them we will not become stronger and more resilient. The storms in our life’s, prepare us for the hurricanes that may lie just beyond the horizon.

We all have our challenges and our battles. Everyone one of us goes through life’s trials. And maybe you’re going through a battle now. During the darkest hours of my life, when I lost everything and had nothing else to cling to, I clung to a faith that taught me that we could meet the challenges. That we won’t be given anything that we can’t handle. And really, at times, that faith was all that I had, when everything else was lost. A better way to say that is “they were given away” by the choices that I made.

One thing is true of everyone, you and I included; we are either just coming out of a storm, in the middle of a “storm” or we soon will in a storm.

Life trials and ups and downs are normal and will be experienced by us in one time or the other. The difference is that some experience hard times and trying times earlier in their life time while others may experience it later on in life, but it will surely come. The irony of life is that it is only the test of fire that can make fine steel. Trials of life can be seen during hard times and unhappy experiences. It can manifest in such ways as marital problems, relationships, unemployment, financial hardship etc. The truth is that these things must be experienced by all of us in one stage in life or the other. The ability to handle any of these hardships is what determines how well one can come out of it. Life is not a bed of roses therefore there must be challenges to be faced in each phase of life. That is the truth about life.

Everywhere I turn, I see people dealing with the stress in their lives. It seems that everyone has different degrees of difficulty at different times. When we face our trials in life take a look at those around us. The key to peace during our storms is to put your problems into perspective. Look at the problems that we have, look at those around us and we might just find that we are thankful for the blessings that we have.

There will always be people problems. There will always be financial challenges. There will always be issues in the home, issues to be resolved in relationships or a crisis of some kind. Every day I live in this world, there will always be some uncertainty that comes my way.

I can remember being in the midst of the worst storm of my life and doing a lot of grumbling, complaining, and whining about the circumstances I found myself in. Even though they were self made circumstances, I still. at the time, didn’t think I deserved what was happening, or even understand what was happening. A dear friend did what good friends do; he listened. But, when I paused to take a breath he asked me this question “when all this is over what will be more important, the circumstances of the way you handle the circumstances? That question stopped me in my tracks as I thought about his remark, I realized he was right. My attitude stunk, I was enjoying my own pity party and was missing a great opportunity to learn and grow in the midst of a challenging time in my life. I let relationships pass by because I thought I was undeserving of one. That friend helped me understand the importance of “learning to dance in the rain”. He taught me that, during the trials we face in life, we should not ask “why is this happening to me?” and “when will this be over”, rather we should ask what can I learn from these circumstances; and more specifically “what does God want me to learn in the midst of this storm?”’ To what End” is the better question?

We typically find ourselves in a storm because of own unwise decisions or because of another’s poor decisions. Either way, we have a choice of how respond and conduct ourselves. We can whine and complain and be unhappy, or we can chose to be thankful, even during a storm, realize that God is still in control, and allow him to use the circumstances to grow us and mature us.

It is natural when things go wrong to wallow in self-pity and wish that things were different. You may question the fairness of life, and experience strong feelings of anger and resentment.

While it is not wrong to feel this way, the gap between the way you want things to be and the way they really are creates an enormous tension within yourself. Not only do you have to struggle with the real situation, you are also fighting another self-created storm inside.

The faster you can accept that things are this way and they are not going to change no matter how hard you wish, you can start to deal with the real situation.

Stay on course when things get rough, you may be tempted to give up because it just doesn’t seem worth it. Sometimes it feels easier to stop trying, to withdraw from the game, to stay out of life’s fray. Yet if you give in, you will miss out on much of life’s adventure. You were born to live, and this is part of living.

Just keep going. Sunny skies will come again, and you will appreciate the good times all the more because of what you’ve just weathered. And when the next storm comes, you’ll be better skilled and able to help not just yourself but others as well.

Some storms seem to sneak up on us because we don’t learn from them. Meteorologically speaking, after studying storms for many years we now know how to track where they will strike next. It’s the same in our lives, when you been through a storm you learn enough to notice the sign that a new storms on the way.

If you build solid foundations through relationships, finances, spiritual health, and physically you will easily survive the storm. After every storm come sunshine so you will see a brighter day if you hold on. After every storm comes new growth. Set strong anchors in your life so you want be moved when the storm hits. And when the thunder and lightning come into your own life, you’ll be ready. The thunder won’t bother you much, and for as for the lightening, you’ll get a chance to see how awesome your family and friends really are. They’ll step up to the plate and surround you with care.

They say the eye of the storm is the most quite an eerie place to be, when we know what has passed by and we are unsure of what to expect. But this quietness might be right where God intends us to be. So when He whispers in His still soft voice, we can hear, out of the world winds that have just come through our life’s and we find ourselves still standing anticipating the next ones. He reminds us that He has been there and provides security of His presence in the remainder of storms to come. He whispers reminders of His promises, and His promises are never failing, He keeps everyone. This is hard for us to accept sometimes in our storms because, people have come into and out of our life’s, making promises then not keeping them. Leaving us empty and confused.

What a beautiful place to be, in the eye of the storm