Facing The Storm

​Photo by Anne Nyle
Written by Georgetta Head
​
As far back as I can remember, as a little girl, I was petrified of thunderstorms (this was a fear I caught from my Grandmother).  I was so frightened that I would hide under a table, or if in bed I would hide under the blankets. This fear traveled with me to adulthood! It was so bad that when I had children and a storm would hit doing the night, I would gather my children up and put them in bed with me, fearing the storm would hurt them.  This went on for several years, and I hate to admit this, but I was saved while this fear was tormenting me. I knew the Lord as my Savior for eternity but didn't know about trusting Him from the storms of nature. 

One day I was home alone during a summer afternoon, and you guessed it, a thunderstorm with lightning hit.  I can remember it as if it were yesterday!   I was sitting in the livingroom, petrified.  Too scared to move and with tears streaming down my face, I suddenly heard a still small voice say, "where is your faith!"  Parts of a scripture came to my mind, the one of the 12 Disciples in a boat with Jesus sleeping when a storm came.  At that very moment I cried out to Jesus for help.  "Jesus, please don't let me die in this storm, I cried out!"  Immediately, an unexplainable peace came upon me.  The fear I had been feeling disappeared and the heaviness of God's presence flooded my livingroom.   For the first time in my life I didn't feel the fear of a thunderstorm, and being in Father's presence was even more than I could every ask for!

The scripture I vaguely remembered was Luke 8:22-24.  "Now it came to pass on a certain day, that He went into a ship with His disciples: and He said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth.  But as they sailed He fell asleep: and there came down a storm of wind on the lake; and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy.  And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish.  Then He arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm.  And He said unto them, Where is your faith? "

God delivering me from fear, that was paralyzing, taught me a great lesson about faith and God's character of faithfulness.

1.  It didn't take "big" faith for God to help me!  It was my faith of belief in His Word.  With God's statement to me "where is your faith?" I responded by calling out to Father from a heart of trust.

2.  God responded to my act of faith by being faithful to His Word "call unto me and I will answer.."  (Jeremiah 33:3), and "if you ask anything in my name I will do it" (John 14:14).

This experiential deliverance from fear also taught me a big lesson for handling future storms, such as the storms of everyday struggles in my life. Since this incident I have learned to trust God with all my problems.  He has been faithful all these years, and presently, in guiding me with answers or help I need when faced with life's storms.

What storms are you struggling with today?  Put your faith in God for the answers and solutions for these storms.  God responds to "faith"  by calling "peace to be still" in our lifes!  So, 1 Peter 5:6-7 encourages us to "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:  Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you."