Singing and Dancing in the Rain and Walking on Water

We’ve all had our share of showers. Lately it seems everyone I know is going through some type of personal storm. It’s seems we’ve navigated through pretty deep waters to our current location only to find ourselves being tossed about, battered by the wind, the waves, and now—torrential downpours.

How did we end up here if we heard and headed the voice we knew to be God’s? The turmoil and tribulations we find ourselves weathering seem to be like sheets of rain with no end in sight. What do we do?

I know I, myself, felt as though a hurricane ripped through my life a few weeks ago. I remember having a conversation with God and asking Him, “If I did as You instructed, how am I here and what do I do now?”

Even as I prayed for the desires of my heart and believed for the outcome I thought to be right, it seemed the doors were being blown off the hinges of my life and the windows were being sucked out of the frames of my dreams. The storm was ever present and I was sitting right in the middle of it praying for the preservation of my foundation. I prayed that God would help me repair what was being ripped to shreds before my eyes. For several days, all I could ask is, “Lord, what do I do now?”

When I heard from God, I kept hearing water. I had just experienced an emotional hurricane and I was being reminded of the water. I called to remembrance God’s invitation to come out from my place of comfort at the shoreline and join Him at the deep end of the ocean, where things would probably get rough and rocky, and, at times, cold and dark. I remembered that with just a small amount of faith, Peter walked on the water to Jesus. I remembered that even when Peter’s doubt stirred up along with the wind, Jesus reached out to him and saved him (Matthew 14:22-33).

I was helped to remember, by those God sent to intercede on my behalf as Jesus did for Peter, that God is faithful and that I was given this life because I am strong enough, through Jesus, to endure it (1 Corinthians 10:13). I was reminded that trials are blessings  to those who love the Lord (James 1:12).

I began to really understand what it means to consider tribulations with joy (James 1:2). Especially those things that seem to come upon us unexpectedly, out of nowhere and blindside us (1 Peter 4:12) and I began to praise God right in the middle of the storm.

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I am still enduring the storm, but I’m singing and dancing  through it and walking on the water the storm leaves in its wake. God is with me and I am rejoicing and exulting in hope; steadfast and patient in suffering and tribulation; vigilant in prayer.

I urge you, right in the midst of your personal storm, a storm that may very well have left you in a flooded valley, put on your brightest rain boots, your favorite raincoat and dance in the middle of the storm. God will be there with you and He will cause it all to work for your good (Romans 8:28).

God is watching over you. I know because I asked Him to (James 5:14-16).

~Veronica F.