The sun was just starting to rise as I left for work the other morning.  Doctors like to schedule surgery in the mornings, so my day as a recovery nurse begins early.  As I turned north, I was startled by the dark and cloudy sky I saw.  Angry steel-gray clouds hung low and ominous as if the rain saturated atmosphere was too heavy to hold its place in the sky.  The sky was falling and it was getting scary looking.  The storm seemed to have moved in so suddenly.  I had noticed only a few moments before how the morning sky was brightened by the rising sun.  This storm came in quickly and the murky clouds enveloped every last bit of rising sunshine.  It got so dark that I felt like I was suddenly driving at night.  Before I knew it, the heavy clouds could hold the rain no more and I was driving in a torrential downpour.  Anxiously, I realized that I was going to get awfully wet from my walk (or now my run) from my parking spot at work, to the safety of my building.  Did I have an umbrella in the car?  I wasn’t sure and I couldn’t exactly look around for one as I concentrated on driving through the pelting rain.  My sandaled feet were sure to get soaked.  At least I had grabbed a jacket on the way out the door – at least I could put up the hood and protect myself from getting totally drenched.

As I pulled into the parking lot at work, the rain slowed to barely a drizzle as the sky actually brightened up a bit.  I walked, without an umbrella or under the protection of my jacket, into the building while staying relatively dry.  I was amazed at how things went so quickly from dark, angry, stormy skies to a brighter and lighter sprinkle of rain.

It made me think 😉

The challenges we face in life are like storms.  Many times they come suddenly and unexpected as we scramble to look for protection – an umbrella – to shield us from the unpleasant sting of wet and cold.  But every storm has its end.  Even Noah was told by God to expect rain for forty days and forty nights.  That was a long storm to endure – but God provided for Noah and everyone and everything on the ark.  The story does not talk about them running out of food.  Noah trusted God.  God was faithful.

Storms in our lives are going to happen.  But if we prepare for them by trusting God through His word, the Bible, that He will take care of us and by recognizing that every storm will eventually end, then we can survive and reap the benefits of the storm.    It may be that the strong winds of your storm, or challenge, may break down something in your life – and maybe you needed to get rid of that part of your life?  But storms also bring rain – and all living things need water to survive.  So let the rains of your storm or challenge nurture you as you grow and change.  If things fall apart under the crushing winds of your challenge, just be eager to rebuild things a little stronger – and little better.

Storms are going to happen.
Prepare yourself as best you can.
Trust God to see you through.
The storm WILL eventually end.
Let the winds and rain of the storm change you for the better.

And don’t forget…

Look for the rainbow.

Leviticus 26:3-4 “‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit.”

Luke 8:23-24 As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!”  He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm.

Just Laurel

btw – The photo was taken with my phone after a huge storm in downtown Trenton on the night before the annual Street Fair –  I love rainbows and always look for them – and I got to see one that day!