Wild Winds and the Spirit to guide!

The sun was shining when I left my church office to go to visit with an ill person. When I went into his home, it was beautiful outside.  Minutes later, we were rocked by a wild storm. I left for home in wind and driving rain.  I found the roadway blocked with a fallen tree.  What should have been a 15 minute drive turned into over an hour long adventure on back roads, finding no less than 6 roads blocked by trees, downed wires, and poles. Without my phone and GPS technology I think I might still be trying to get home!  

Yesterday was a metaphor for life! One day everything is great, the next we are in crisis.  However … if we are walking with Jesus, there is a Guide, the ever present Holy Spirit.  Even then there will be times when we grow anxious, when our thoughts tumble and we wonder – “How, what, where, when?” … a hundred questions screaming for answers, the Tempter whispering that He has forgotten us.

When laid down to sleep last night another storm blew through my life, this one emotional and spiritual.  My mind revisited the room of that sick man, who is near the end of this life. His frail body, the constant hum of his oxygen machine, the hospital bed in his living room, the table full of prescription bottles; it all stirred up too many painfully vivid memories for me. At 10 pm, there in the darkness of my own bedroom, fear of the future crept in.  Would I someday be in that state? How could I endure it?  In faith, I reached out to the Father, asking that He would silence those questions that borrowed from an unknown future. And, just as my GPS guided me through the afternoon’s storms to home, I found the Spirit leading me to peace and rest.

This morning, I want to encourage YOU in two ways.

First, walk with the Lord faithfully while the sun shines!

The spiritual disciplines of worship, prayer, Scripture intake, meditation, and service open up pathways in our soul that allows the Spirit of God to work in us. When things are going great, we may be tempted to ignore those important choices.  We must not wait for the arrival of a crisis and only then to cry out to the Lord!

Second, stay steady in faith, sure that He is ‘a present Help in times of distress!’

Faith does not eliminate every storm. It makes a way through the storm and leads us, ultimately, to Home.

Here is a word from the Psalm, a prayer of David when he was in a stormy time of life. Let the inspired Word take root and bring hope.

"Listen, God, to my prayer! Don’t reject my request. Please listen and help me.
My thoughts are troubled, and I keep groaning because my loud enemies shout and attack.
They treat me terribly and hold angry grudges.
My heart is racing fast, and I am afraid of dying.
I am trembling with fear, completely terrified.
I wish I had wings like a dove, so I could fly far away and be at peace." (Psalm 55:1-6, CEV)

"I ask for your help, Lord God, and you will keep me safe.
Morning, noon, and night you hear my concerns and my complaints.

I am attacked from all sides, but you will rescue me unharmed by the battle.
You have always ruled, and you will hear me.
You will defeat my enemies because they won’t turn and worship you." (Psalm 55:16-19, CEV)

Amen!