I decided to break up my day today and go for a walk. Now this is a very common occurence, nothing special, until today.
After locking my door and turning around I noticed the ominous clouds, and wind blowing through the trees. I decided to just take my chances and get some fresh air. I plugged my earbuds in and started walking. As I turned onto the road I noticed the black clouds looming ahead of me as the wind blew against my back.
>>I want to parallel this with how easy in life do we tend to follow a similar path. We ignore ominous dangers that loom ahead of us. We get carried away with familiarity, of influences that we partake in and influencers we surround ourselves with and walk among. This sometimes leads us straight into a storm that we see coming, but choose to ignore. <<
A Kari Jobe song, “forever” came on my Spotify as I continued to walk. As the music continued to play on my walk I noticed the trees swaying in the wind, dancing along to the music and worshiping the God that created them. How beautiful it was, with the fallen leaves lifting up from the ground at the exact moment the chorus errupted. The clouds were still growing darker and looming closer. I walked with courage to the end of the street and turned to walk home. At this time my music changed to another favorite, “It Is Well”, covered by Bethel music, so I played it a little louder, drowning out the clouds above. This time as I turned to head back, the wind was facing at me, blowing obstacles in my way, forcing me to fight against it.
>>How quickly in our lives do we face similar obstacles. For awhile we might walk along with the crowd, and try to fit in. We turn up the noise around us rather than tuning into God’s words, His scripture and allowing that to focus our direction.<<
The thunder grew louder and the lightening pierced the sky. The storm was among me, I was caught at a point of no return, I set my eyes on home.
>>The storms in our life, we may see them coming, and still head into them. When we’re caught we try to control it, find a way out, most of the time on our own. The funny thing is, just like with the storms in nature, the storms in our lives we have no control over. We may try to fight, fight against the wind, but we sometimes end up drowning when we face them alone. With God, our mountains in front of us, “will be thrown into the midst of the sea” if we keep our eyes on him even when we can’t see.<<
There’s a couple ways this story of my walk could end:
- One being, the rain comes. I get carried up in the storm and it sweeps me away.
- The second, the rain still comes, but I’m delivered through it. The negative influences in my life don’t get the best of me. I turn to God, I seek forgiveness, set my eyes on Him and He guides me to safety.
- The third scenario, I am delivered before the storm. I seek refuge I can only find in God and am provided shelter as the storm passes over.
There’s been many storms in my life, some I wasn’t refined enough at the time to avoid. By Gods grace and those He’s put in my life at just the right moments, I’ve been able to reflect and grow from my storms. They have all led me to who I am, and have refined me for God’s purpose for my life. I know that I’ll be able to contribute a lot to The World Race but there is so much more refining God has in store for me, and for you who are reading this.
Step by step we walk towards our future. Where are your steps leading you? Are they refining you? Will you get swept away by the storm or let God’s grace wash over you? Even in our storms God doesn’t leave us, for “even the winds and the waves obey Him” (Matt 8:27) and so we can have peace.
