Let the storm subside

Let the Storm Subside (written from the Joyce Meyer Devotional)

I have faced so many storms in my life, some like the quick afternoon storms that are common in the summertime and some that seemed like category four hurricanes!

If I have learned anything about weathering those storms, it has been that they don't last forever, and I don't need to make major decisions in the midst of them.

Thoughts and feelings run wild in the midst of crises, but those are exactly the times we need to be careful about making decisions. I often say to myself, "Let emotions subside before you decide."

We must remain calm and discipline ourselves to focus on doing what we can do and trust God to do what we can't do.
Instead of drowning in worry and fear, get in touch with God, who sees past the storm and orchestrates the big picture.

He makes sure everything that needs to happen in our lives happens at the right time, moves at the appropriate speed, and causes us to arrive safely at the destinations He has planned for us.

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Psalm 46:1-3

·     1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. 4 There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her.

 My thoughts - 

Throughout my life I have been through many storms and I know I am not where I am today by my own strength. My parents divorced when I was 12 years old. My father was an alcoholic. Soon after, my mother also fell into the trap of addiction and chose cocaine for the next 13 years instead of her children.

I spent my middle school and early high school years living with my grandparents and the last two years of high school living in an apartment mostly on my own. I did not have the guidance, direction, or wisdom from my parents to help lead me in the right direction.

I knew God had a plan for me and it wasn’t to follow in my family’s footsteps. I threw myself into every school activity there was, tutored after school to elementary kids, and worked 20-30 hours a week to pay for bills.

I graduated in the top 10% of my class with several local scholarships for college and was even blessed to have a teacher of mine co-sign on a car for me to get me to college.

Throughout college, I worked 3 part time jobs to pay for my living and still managed to take a full class load each semester. I knew God had bigger plans for me if I kept working hard and staying faithful to him. He was my family, my support, my strength, my protector, my determination to be whatever He had planned for me.

I worked at an school with an amazing environment for two years my first years of teaching and then a school with a not so amazing environment for the next year. Even though I went through much pain and difficulties at my previous school, God allowed it to show me the kind of teacher He wanted me to be and what kind of environment He wanted me to use my gifts in.

The storm I had of going through a year of unemployment while also having our first child was not an easy one…but it allowed God to do a tremendous growth in me. I just kept remaining faithful and patient knowing He had the answers to my future even if I didn’t.

Coming to ACS was a definite “God Thing”. He knew all along that the hardships at my previous school would lead me here. I never would’ve imagined this is the path He had chosen for me. Sometimes we have to remember that the options we try to give God for our path aren’t even options because what He has in mind is so much greater.

What we have to realize as adults is our paths can be ever-changing. Where we are at may not be the final ending to God’s plan for us. It can be merely just a chapter. We need to remember that what we think other people should do really doesn’t matter because what ultimately matters is what God has planned for them to do. We do not have the privilege or telling people whether the choices they are making are right or wrong. God is directing their path…not our expectations of what path they should choose.

Whatever storm you may be in…little or big…God has the wheel, it’s His plan not ours, and it’s our job to wait patiently for Him to reveal it to us when His timing is perfect.

“let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;”   -Hebrews 12:1-2