The Sun is Still Shining Above the Storms

Mark 4:39-40 When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

It had been storming for two or three days in a row, and I was feeling depressed, because it seemed that the storms would never stop coming.  I remember thinking, “This is how my life seems. One big storm that will never end. I don’t believe the sun will ever shine again in my life.”  I felt hopeless and in despair, and I could see no way to change my situation. Then, the clouds parted!

I was 24 years old, with four children whom I had adopted when I was 21 years old and my only sibling, their mother, died, and I was living with two alcoholics: my mother and my husband.  I tried to find work, but I could not find a job that paid enough to lift the children and me out of poverty, so I stayed in the marriage. Even more distressing was my mother would not allow me to discipline the children,  because she felt that they were already suffering from the loss of their biological mother. Needless to say, the children understood that they could do anything and get away with it, so there was total chaos in the home. Overall, I was in danger of losing my mind.

I foresaw a future of desperation and pain. I prayed, but did not see how God could change anything in my life. Then, one day, as I vacuumed the living room, I felt in my spirit to stand still and look up at the storm clouds as they rolled by, with seemingly no break in them. Suddenly, there was a break in the storm clouds, and I saw the sun shining just above the storm clouds! I was floored! I never knew that the sun was still shining during a storm.  In that moment, God taught me a lesson I have never forgotten: The sun will shine again in your life, but you have to wait for the storms to pass, and they will.

I was overjoyed, my faith was renewed, and I was still, waiting to see the salvation of the Lord. I began to believe that maybe things would turn around for me, and they did. Like the disciples who found themselves in the midst of a storm-tossed sea, I had wondered if  Jesus cared that I was drowning in sorrow and despair. I had stopped going to church, and I felt alone in the storms. But, nearly a month or so after that fateful sighting, God silenced the storms in my life, as He opened doors of opportunity that eventually allowed me to find a great job, leave the abusive marriage, and give my children a solid middle-class life, with the discipline God expected me to administer.

So, whatever the storms are in your life today, just remember that the sun never stops shining, even during the storms. Be still, and know that He is God, that He has overcome the natural world, and that He has the ability to speak to our storms and silence them. Keep your faith, let go of your fears, and wait for your change to come.

Dear Father in Heaven,

Thank you for silencing the storms in my life. When a storm comes, I am reminded that the sun will shine again, and that I must be patient until the storms pass over. I try, Lord, not to worry when storms come, but I seem to be a worrier by nature. Yet, I do not forget that You are in control, and that there is no reason to be afraid. Take care of the situation in Your own time, dear Lord. I believe in You. In Jesus’s Name. Amen.