The Waves and Wind Still Know His Name.

Luke 8:25 “Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him?”

 

Are you in a season of life that you would call a “Storm”?  Living in moments when you feel tossed and lost in a sea of waves?  Me too.  I’ve been here for a while.  And, lately, I’ve been asking the Lord when these swells will finally calm.

Seasons like this are tough and it’s easy to become hardened, indifferent, and pessimistic.  DON’T.

My parents often remind me of a joke made famous by Ronald Reagan.  It’s about a little boy who was an eternal optimist.  In an effort to understand why he was wired this way, a psychiatrist took the boy to a room piled high in manure.  Squealing in delight, the kid climbs to the top of the pile and starts digging.  When asked what in the world he’s doing??  Beaming, the little boy replies, “With all this manure, there must be a pony in here somewhere!”

Our approach to the storm needs to change.

Isaiah 51:15 says “For I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea and its waves roar.”  We must not forget an important truth:  God is a Wave-Maker.

And waves don’t have to include a storm.  The second we feel tossed, we assume the skies are dark and foreboding, as well.  We feel abandoned and forgotten because the enemy is twisting a season that’s meant to build, teach and strengthen you, into sea of chaos.

You will go through hard days.  Hard years.  But lying on a raft in the middle of a calm ocean will not get you where you need to go.  Waves are important in our lives.  They mold and direct us.  Still, that does not diminish how difficult some days will be.  It’s true that some waves will nearly break you.

When my first born was 4 days old and I found out his body would go into organ failure without immediate surgery to open his aorta, I was so knocked over, I didn’t care if I ever got back up.  At the time, I didn’t look for the pony, that’s for sure.  But grace still steps in and still gives us the testimony at the other end of our trials.

Would I have avoided that wave if given the chance?  No question, absolutely.  But that’s exactly why WE don’t get to control the ocean. That wave is a part of a great plan for my son.  I needed it and so did he.

There’s a man named Clark Little who’s got my attention.  He’s made chasing waves his profession.  His body gets thrown, bruised and broken as he dives in and risks everything to find the beauty INSIDE that swell.  What if we make his photos our new approach to stormy seasons?

It’s time to face hard times differently.  Find the beauty.  Find the strength.  Find the purpose.  Expect that your current wave has a great gift in it.  Open your eyes to promises all around you – promises to sustain you, give you hope, bring you peace.  Lift your hands above the current and worship in your desperation.  Your testimony is coming.  And what a picture it’s going to make.

#TimesAreTough  #GodHasAPlan #ClarkLittle