God Saw The Storms

Psalms 9:91-0 (NIV)

The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed,

    a stronghold in times of trouble.

Those who know your name trust in you,

    for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.

God saw the storms coming before I did. He wasn’t unprepared. He was fully aware.

 

I’ve had several people reach out to me about our plans for a mission trip to Honduras this year. In late 2022, there were plans for a spring break trip in 2023 to Honduras. I’ve always felt a peace about those trips in the past, so I was unsettled to not feel that way this time. I have never stressed about the money because I knew where God led me, He would provide the means. This wasn’t about the money, though. It was different. The uneasiness came from the timing, and the uncertainty of if Spring Break 2023 was designated time with my children for me or for my ex-husband. The uneasiness didn’t subside when I realized Spring Break was my turn this year. I continued to faithfully pray for answers and that God would take the uneasiness away. Honduras has my heart. It was my desire to go as long as God would allow me to. 

 

Moving into early 2023, I made the decision to follow where I felt God was leading and to sit this one out this time. I knew there had to be meaning behind it all, so I would trust Him to reveal that to me in His time. My prayers changed. I prayed for another missions opportunity to present itself for Spring Break. And then it fell that James would get his braces during Spring Break. And the rest of my immediate family would be going on a cruise for Spring Break.

 

That’s when the storms came. The closer we moved from February toward March, I could see the dark clouds forming. Some clouds were bigger than others. Some clapped with thunder and lightning. I trusted God to see us through these storms. He has yet to fail me when I trust in Him, so I knew in my heart that He was leading the way. I just had to follow Him. I’ve seen His hand at work.

 

One of my prayers most recently had me inquiring of God if 2023 just wasn’t the year for missions for my little family. “No summer mission trips then?,” I remember asking. God must’ve chuckled to Himself. The God I worship has a sense of humor, so He must’ve seen those questions coming. The question came in email form with the words TOWNSEND, TN 2023 written across the top. So my little family, following where God is leading, will do missions work together this summer on a more local level with some of the families we worship with in our church. While the storm clouds still linger, I feel a peace that they will eventually make way for sunny skies again. This is a time in our lives, the life of my little family, that my children need me. They need their mother to be active and present and our missions work this year needs to be closer to home and where we can all be working together.

 

Please don’t mistake this tale for a cryptic message that it isn’t. While I want to share details so you can see for yourself how God is moving and working in our lives, it’s also my job to protect my family. My children deserve their privacy at the same time. I feel like the message in this story is not about the storms that we may face in life, because God’s Word never promised that life would be void of storms. His message to me was loud and clear: these storms will pass and the SON will shine and God will get the glory through it all.

My Story. Your Glory.

I had one focus in 2022: To know God more. 

Within a few days of 2023 I started praying about what my focus would be this year. I came across an Instagram post from a social media influencer I follow who has a word for each year. A word? A single, solitary word to be the main focus of your year? How does that work?

So I hesitated....maybe a little bit longer than I should have. What's next?

Pray about it.

Okay, God, I tried to keep it simple, If a word is where my focus needs to be, give me a word. Same prayer all the way into the start of the New Year. 

My sister gave me a gift card for Christmas. If you're reading this now, you're probably wondering what on Earth that has to do with my prayer. I'm getting there. I promise.

The gift card was for this cute little locally owned coffee shop called Sweet Hart Coffee. It happens to be on my way to work. And I rarely ever stop for coffee on my way to work because we have coffee  at work. But in a quiet moment that involves me learning to put myself first sometimes and provide myself some self-care while sticking faithfully to a well-maintained budget (thanks, Mom!) I decided I would stop for coffee on Wednesday morning.

Something else you should know about this sweet little coffee shop is that they put Bible verses on their cups. Yep. Little stickers that they adorn their cups with, no matter if the drink is cold or iced. I ordered The Marsha hot because I felt like it. I definitely recommend it. So i paid and the barista handed me my cup. 

God said, Keep your focus on Me this year. And btw, your word for the year is peace.

This made me chuckle just a little bit because I've dealt with anxiety for years. Until a few years ago, I was taking traditional medicine for it. I felt like the medicine was causing unwanted side effects. I'm not here to discourage anyone who is currently receiving medical treatment to discontinue that - this was what worked best in my situation. 

I had to laugh because I've come to the realization that the more I focused on God last year, the less I felt my anxiety bubble to the surface. The more I leaned on Him and laid those worries at His feet, the less sleep I lost over unimaginable tragic scenarios that more often than not only played out in my mind and never in reality. So why would I attempt to place my focus somewhere else in 2023? Silly me. And leave it to MY God, who without a doubt must possess a sense of humor to deal with me on a daily basis, to answer all of my questions in one fell swoop. 

When we carry things that we aren't meant to carry, especially things of this world that we have no control over in the first place, we take the focus off of God and place it on ourselves. My anxiety won't allow me to focus on anything else when I'm consumed by it. Because I'm trying to maintain or gain a sense of control that I don't have and I never had it anyway.

God is in control.

I can let go of the anxiety and not be consumed by it. I'd rather be consumed by the peace that only He can bring anyway. 

My story, Your glory

My pain, Your purpose

My mess, Your message

In all things I know You're working

-- Matthew West --