How to Get Through the Storms of Life

The storms of life.   

We don’t usually use those exact words but basically the storms of life are the difficult times in our lives.   

I personally define a storm as difficulty in a transitional moment of our lives.    

This is because, storms typically hit our lives when we are in a vulnerable season.   

When we are already in a delicate time in our lives, the storm hits and it has us feeling insecure and afraid that we won’t make it out of this season.   

For example:   

You step out and start the business! Then you find out that it will take more money than you planned, to get it legally ready for launch. At the same time, your child broke a bone and had to go to the emergency room, which took some of your savings out of the bank. You were already vulnerable; facing the unknown, and now striking bolts of lightening and vicious winds, send fears of failure or destruction, deep into your heart.    

Perhaps, you leave the job and you start to pursue a higher position! However, you start to feel the fears overwhelm you as you notice that you are not getting chosen for the positions that you have applied for.  You fear that you will not reach a higher level now, since you have to basically start all over, at whatever job hires you.    

How about, if you get married young and you soon find that you do not know how to manage household funds properly; so when unexpected expenses come, you feel that you were not ready for this level of responsibility and you fear that you will sink your new family.      

The list is endless.   

In these stormy seasons, it feels as though we left a comfortable, well-known season and we are headed to an unknown season.    

a season that could be good but it also could be bad, for all we know.    

In these situations, we would rather stay comfortable, than step into the unknown.    

The next season could be better, but if we are comfortable in the place we are at, it can be terrifying to head into something new.    

The destination could be good or bad, and in the transitional period of time, in between the place that you are leaving and the unknown place in front of you, is where the storm often hits the hardest.   

What hurts the worst is when you don’t choose to leave where you were.   

You don’t necessarily want to move to the next place because you were fine where you were.    

Sometimes in life, you do not get to choose to stay where you are or choose to step into something new.   

We didn’t want to leave the last season and we don’t know what will be on the other side of this.   

How do we get through the storms of life?    

Jesus and his disciples know exactly what this feels like!   

Go to Luke 8:22-25     

They face a storm, however, if you read earlier in Luke 8, we get a glimpse of where Jesus and the disciples were before they launched out to the next destination.   

We learn that Jesus had been preaching the good news, to every city, through parables.   

It was a very great moment in Jesus’ ministry, when a great crowd came to hear Him and He just told them about the Kingdom of God.    

This was definitely a highlight in His ministry and it was seemingly very pleasant and intimate.   

When His assignment to preach in that city was over, in verse 22, Jesus and His disciples headed to the next location. 

Jesus, of course obeyed the Father with every step, so He just followed when God lead Him from the pleasant consistency of preaching to those who gathered to hear Him, in that city.   

If it were me, I would prefer to stay where I was comfortable and where everyone just gathered to have fellowship with me.    

It’s pleasant and steady!     

That’s why most of us love to stay in our comfort zone!     

It’s predictable and steady there!       

It’s still…       

However, Jesus knew it was time to go to the next place that God was taking Him, so He left what was comfortable, the moment God lead Him to.    

They launched out to…       

The   

Other   

Side   

Of the lake…      

They are leaving one place and headed to the next place.      

In this transitional moment, when Jesus could have mourned the place that He was leaving, He rested.          

I want to be like this!        

While leaving a good, steady season, I want to rest in the middle of that transition, from one place to another, but I am not like Jesus in that way!         

I mourn terribly what I lost in the seasons I have departed from and I fear greatly that the other side of this transition, is not going to be as good as what I just left behind.     

Jesus could rest because He does something that I don’t do as often as I should.     

Jesus trusted God!     

Jesus trusted that God was in the previous season.     

Jesus trusted that God was leading Him to the other side for a reason.    

Jesus trusted God in the moments in between.        

That is why Jesus rested that night!       

Well, it was also because He was tired…        

When Jesus fell asleep, a storm hit!    

It was dreadful winds and raging waves!    

Water started to get in the boat and the disciples knew that this could only end in death.           

They are in an awful storm and Jesus is not disturbed!   

The storm did not disrupt Jesus’ sleep.   

Only one thing woke Jesus up…       

In verse 24, the disciples woke Him up to tell him that they were dying.      

I love this because I can relate to this!!!        

In the transitional times of my life, I have told God that I feel like I am dying.      

Have you ever had seasons where you felt like you struggled to breathe or get out of bed in the morning?     

When, everyday you cried as you tried to do your everyday tasks.     

You feel like you are dying inside and sometimes you wished you were.     

Anything to remove you from this storm, that feels like it’s going to tear you apart!     

To be fair, from the disciples point of view and in their limited understanding…        

It did look like they were going to drown or be torn apart.       

This situation, in the natural, didn’t seem like something that they could survive!    

So, they did what we do when we are in a storm.       

They went to Jesus and wondered if He noticed them dying.    

They wanted to know if they had the Lord’s attention at the moment that they felt that they are at the end of themselves.         

HEY GOD, I AM DYING INSIDE!!!!!   

Notice how Jesus responds!       

Jesus rejected the storm by basically reprimanding it.        

The storm or course turned away and ceased, but I love that God didn’t kill the storm or curse it!         

Jesus rebuked the wind and waves.    

Jesus plainly corrected the storm and had it stop doing what it was doing.      

This is the heart of our God.        

He doesn’t curse the storm!     

He just tells it to stop.       

Why wouldn’t God curse something that put us in jeopardy?       

Wouldn’t God demolish what tried to destroy us?       

Yes, He would!     

He shows us that with the cross.    

So then… the storm wasn’t threatening to destroy the disciples…       

God didn’t curse the storm because the storm was not going to kill them.     

They thought it would but God didn’t send it to end their purpose… maybe it was sent to build their purpose.        

Look at where they were!      

They were in a transitional moment, going from one season to another.       

They were vulnerable.       

They had a good time in the previous town and they were headed towards a new city, full of uncertainty.      

On the way there, a storm hit.     

Waves formed on a once still lake.     

Look at a wave…        

Waves have a high point, a low point and an average point.       

I see waves as the highs and lows of life; because in those vulnerable transitional moments, we measure life in those two categories.      

Sometimes, feeling really high highs then really low lows in life, feels worse than never having any high moments.     

This is because these highs and lows make life feel unsteady and uncertain.    

The worst time for these waves to hit our lives, is in our vulnerable season, headed towards where we feel God is leading us.         

We much rather have the waters be calm and steady, if we are in this in-between season of life.     

It feels so much better and more comfortable on steady water.     

It may feel better but that doesn’t mean it is better.        

Consider this!     

On steady water, the disciples have to row harder to get to the other side. If they don’t, it will take them way longer to get there.      

While, on the waves, with the wind blowing, the boat is moving without them needing to strenuously row the boat themselves. This decreases the time that they spend in that transitional season.   

This is because, waves cut the water for the boat to glide through faster and the wind pushes the boat forward.     

Without the storm, we have to use all of our own strength to push through the still water.      

Could this be why Jesus slept through the storm?       

He knew God gave them a destination, so when the storm came, He knew that it couldn’t prevent God’s will, of them coming to the other side, so it could only be there to move them forward.      

We can’t always see this, because we really want our situations to be calm and steady,     

but what if the more steady the waters are, the more time and effort you need to invest.         

What if God never intended to have you strive to get to the other side?       

What if the waves were only to get you to the next season without you having to exhaust yourself?     

What if the waves are doing the work, so you can rest!       

I know that the storm looks scary and it seems like you won’t live through it…     

God knows what we can’t even comprehend…         

He is using the storm to get you to the next season.         

If the storm is going on all around you, you can actually be still and steady, because you can know that God isn’t trying to destroy your purpose, He is trying to get you closer to it.     

He’s preparing you!      

It is not always in the way that is most comforting for us, but we can know that if the storm is doing all the work, we can rest and lean on God.       

We can have faith that God will not send the storm in the midst of the transition, to stop us from where He is calling us; He will only use it to move us towards where He is calling us!       

In verse 27, Jesus and the disciples get to the other side and they don’t meet the same crowd they had in the previous town.        

However, Jesus faces an intense encounter with a man who needs His healing power.   

It wasn’t as comfortable as the previous town, but a miracle occurred on the other side.     

Maybe the storm was sent to prepare them for this exact moment.      

Maybe, the waves of life and the winds that overwhelm us, were only sent to prepare us for what is on the other side of this transitional season.