John 14:1 Jesus said to his disciples, “Don’t be worried! Have faith in God and have faith in me”.
Isaiah 41:10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.
It’s not easy to find peace when your world seems to have turned on its head. Whether you are facing illness, financial worries, family issues, ghosts from your past, the backwash surrounding the covid 19 virus or the results of an election.
Know that there is one stable fact, one truth, one life raft in the storm, one rock you can cling to and that’s God. In Him you will find an abundance of Peace, Comfort, Security and Strength that is just waiting for you to tap into. He will be your lighthouse and shelter in the storm.
These all sound like great offers but to someone drowning it’s hard to believe. When the walls are crumbling around you and the waves are over your head its hard to see above the water. When the future looks grim and dark clouds are surrounding you it’s nearly impossible to see the silver lining.
Speaking of silver linings, I was sitting at the park on Thursday enjoying lunch with a friend. We had packed up a ton of finger foods, the lawn chairs, a couple of good books, sunglasses, masks, hats and sunscreen. After I gorged myself with all the delicacies, I laid my head back to rest and soaked in the warm Florida sunshine. It’s still upper 80’s here.
I found myself looking at the clouds and imagining what figures they looked like. Did you ever do that as a kid? It was quite fun. Like a dog curled up in the sunshine streaming in a window, I soon settled into my chair, closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep, when a gust of wind woke me from my serenity.
I opened my eyes to find that dark clouds had encroached on my serenity. You could smell rain in the air as the wind scattered a portion of our picnic ensemble across the grass. After gathering the debris, we began to hastily gather our belongings, calculating our escape to cover believing a torrential downpour was in our near future.
It was then that I saw it. No. I felt it at my back – like a gentle tap on my shoulder. I turned my head and there was the silver lining that everyone talks about. It was really quite beautiful as it outlined an otherwise ominous cloud overhead.
Slowly the sun peeked out from behind the darkness and my face was once again wrapped in the warm embrace of the sun. Ahhh. Within a matter of minutes the clouds passed as the sun tapped each on the backside as they left. I was so glad to be able to recapture my serenity. Such is Florida weather.
I was reminded of this moment early this morning as I watched another batch of clouds roll in. I had just finished watching the recent election events on the news. I was feeling…well, I’m not sure how to explain what I felt. I know that whatever the world says or does, God is in control of all of it even when things look so unsettled and to be frank a bit scary.
Looking out at the weather coming in, I was reminded of the silver lining. A plane flew over just then and I also remembered a recent flight that I had taken to see family. I had flown the day after the last hurricane had hit Louisiana and the sky we were flying into was still covered with a blanket of clouds as far as the eye could see. There was turbulence after take off…more than usual. In fact it was quite unsettling as we moved through the clouds to our cruising altitude, until we poked our nose and wing tips above the clouds and all was well.
Turbulence stopped. The sun was shining and the seatbelt sign was turned off, alerting us that we could finally relax and move about the cabin if needed. The captain came on the intercom and assured us that smooth flying was expected for the remainder of the flight. His words were both comforting and reassuring.
Just like the silver lining, the thought of this made me smile. It may look dark right now. Clouds may have taken over your serenity. It may even be a bumpy ride for a while. We may not be able to see any ray of hope in all this mess but its there just above all the clouds.
God is our Captain and He assures us that He’s in control and can see far ahead in the distance even when we can’t. “He knows the plans He has for you.”…for us. He can see above and beyond what our eyes can see, so we need to trust Him.
“LET NOT YOUR HEARTS BE TROUBLED”. HAVE FAITH IN THE ONE THAT SEES AND KNOWS THE BEGINING AND THE END TO THIS JOURNEY WE SHARE. GOD HAS OUR BACK. BELIEVE BEYOND WHAT YOU CAN SEE. HE’S GOT THIS.
PEACE and BLESSINGS, VICTORIA
Believing Outside the Box 
Amen! He is in control!
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