The first things that came to me was FAITH. In all the storms of my life I had faith in my amazing God that He had not forgotten me, He was still with me and my storm may have caught me by surprise but it didn't catch Him by surprise. The word tells us in 1 Chronicles 28:20 that David reminded his son Solomon, “Be strong and of good courage, and do it; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the LORD God—my God—will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you, until you have finished all the work for the service of the house of the LORD". God's word tells us in several scriptures that He will never leave us or forsake us. How can He if He's our heavenly father and loves us unconditionally. Just think about it, would you ever leave your child, especially in times of trouble, well more so God would never leave us when we need Him most. In all of my storms, I knew that God was with me and that He loved me. I also had and continue to have HOPE. Hope in a loving God to calm the storm. In Psalm 107:29 it states "He calms the storm, So that its waves are still". I walked around with hope believing that God would get me through this storm. Sure there were times when I just wanted to lay down and die; sure I had my days of pity parties but because of hope, I would pull myself out of the pit of despair and try to find the light of hope. I would speak life into my situation by speaking the things that are not so that they will be as mentioned in the bible. For example, when my late husband was going through his mid-life crisis and left me, I would walk around thanking God that my husband was home and our marriage was restored. I spoke these words for months until they finally came to fruition--that's hope. I put my hope and faith in God. Through my storms I grew closer to God as I spent a lot of time with Him in PRAYER. Sometimes it was very difficult to pray, there were times I had nothing in me but I thank God that He gave me great friends that would pray with me and then prayer would just bubble up from my belly. Many times when I couldn't pray I literally fell asleep hugging my bible. God knew my heart. If you are going through a difficult time, find yourself a prayer partner, someone who will commit to praying with you every day for your circumstance. A true believer who will storm the gates of heaven with you for your situation. I had a friend, Gail, who till this day I say she was like my "Simon"; she carried my cross with me and every morning before work we prayed for about an hour. Prayer is key to pull through the storm. The bible tells us that the "effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much'. (James 5:16) Lastly, through my storms I had PRAISE. Yes I praised God through my storms. Again, there were times that I did not feel like praising or worshipping God. There were literally days that I forced myself to do so. However, there was never a time that after praising God I didn't feel strengthened, that I didn't finish the praises with more hope. When you praise God you enter His presence and in His presence there is fullness of joy. When you praise God you take your mind, your focus off of your storm and instead focus on God and His wonders. Praise helps you to remember the great God that you serve and that He can do all things, including bringing you through the storm, removing your mountain, and bringing you peace. In Psalm 16:11 it states, "You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore". Yes, there is joy in His presence and He holds your pleasures forevermore.
I have not written in my blog for many months but I was lead to do so today so I believe this is for someone out there. I believe God wanted to bring hope to someone out there today to remind them that He is with them and He will never leave them nor forsake them. A friend from church recently had a revelation of Psalm 23. Psalm 23:4-6 states "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies'. Her revelation was the simple word "through". The Psalm doesn't say we are going to stay in the valley, it says we walk through it which means this too shall pass. Also notice, it says we walk through the valley. Sometimes we want to run through the valley because we are in so much pain that we are desperate to get out but it's a process that we walk through trusting God to bring us through it. Through that process God is doing a work in you and through you so it's not one you can run through. If you are in the midst of a storm, I pray that God comfort you, strengthen you, encourage you and bring you peace. In the name of Jesus I speak peace to the storm in your life. God be with you.