One of the biggest things my daddy taught me was not to be afraid of the storms. The storms are needed to keep things alive.
The same is true in the storms of life. Now I know many of you are like my mother right now and thinking I am crazy but bear with me.
Tonight I had the honor of watching on of my very dear friends bear her soul in front of a room full of women. Do you know how much courage that took? She was speaking to women who may or may not have a relationship with Christ. She not only shared she was transparent and in her transparency she moved a room full of women to the throne of Christ through tears and laughter. Her story is full of storms.
My story is full of storms and I venture to say most of us have storms we have survived (sometimes barely).
Why are these storms important? Because they bring life. Not physical life but spiritual life. Just like the rain provides life for the earth our storms provide life for our souls. While we are weathering the storms we most likely will not see the blessings on the other side as we struggle not to drown. But on the other side of the storm is glorious freedom. If we allow it to it brings us closer to Christ as we realize he is our shelter in the storms.
My husband and I have been walking through a storm of our own (ok maybe more than one storm) and we have been blessed to have a couple willing to walk through the good, the bad and the ugly with us as we rage against the waves. Do you know how freeing that is to have someone willing to look at your junk and love you anyway? Sadly most of us don't.
We weather the storms alone..........nobody ever knowing. We pretend to have it all together.....and inside we are dying. We tell everyone that God is good and we are doing great.........and in reality we can hardly stand to be in the same room with our spouse. We do it alone,that was never the way God intended it. He made us relational for a reason. So we can help weather the storms.
Tonight as my dear friend shared her storms I saw chains of bondage in other women being broken as I looked around a tear filled room. Many women never having been truly seen as what they are.....forgiven children of God.So tonight I sit at the throne thankful for the transparent people in my life. Their storms were are necessary to bring themselves and others closer to Christ.
So as I sit here watching the storm roll in I am thankful to my daddy for teaching me not to be afraid of the storms. And thankful to my heavenly father for never wasting my pain and teaching me just how necessary the storms are to bring glory and honor to the kingdom of Christ.