May 24, 2011 ... Thoughts in the storms ...

Like many others I have watched the news reports concerning the Mississippi River flooding, the tornadoes thru the South in the last month, and now this week - the tornado that ripped apart Joplin, MO. My heart breaks for all these people.
I wonder how many know the Lord? Life is so hard with the Lord, I cannot imagine trying to handle the stresses of life without Him. Sigh.

We have been asked, "But what if God is not real?" 
Our answer? ...
...We have made the decision to live believing that God is real, that His Word is true. We do not have all the answers. We do not understand all His ways. But, as His children - we don't have to. We only need TRUST Him.
...IF God is not real when we die, then what have we lost?
...IF God is real, but we have not lived that way, when we die - what will we have lost?
*We choose to believe.

We have heard the comments that as children of God we shouldn't know the heartaches of life like the world does. ??? Who has been teaching that??? Where does that come from???
Certainly not from God or His Word! John 14-16!!!
Jesus said, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)
There is no promise given, no guarantee made, that says once you become a Christian you live a trouble-free life. No! Exactly the opposite!
Consider our heroes of faith ... (found in Hebrews  11) ...
Abel - worshipped God and  paid the price with his very life.
Noah - he spent 120 years on one project out of obedience to God and lost everything except his life and his family.
Abraham - he trusted God and didn't know where he was going most of his life.
Joseph - believed God, was thrown away by his brothers.
Moses - he walked with God, wandered in the wilderness, and was refused to enter the Promised Land.
David - he believed God but hid in caves for fear of his life.
Daniel - believed God and was throne into a den of lions.
Samson - trusted God and lost his eyesight as well as his life.
Peter - confessing Christ as Lord and crucified upside down.
John - confessing Christ as Lord and sent to the  Isle of Patmos to live out his life in isolation, because they could not kill him. (And the officials tried!)

Then, to read about the heroes of faith since the Bible was written ...
D.L. Moody ... Billy Sunday ... John Wesley ... Martin Luther ... George Whitefield ... the list goes on and on ...

Who am I to think that I could accept Jesus as my Saviour, confess Him as Lord of all - and then live a "trouble-free" life???

I have heard from those this week that are struggling with their adult children making wrong choices and bad decisions ...
From those who have been thrown into a life of solitude and loneliness because of the death of a spouse  ...
From those who are fighting a disease, an illness, that is bigger (or at least at times it seems bigger) than their faith ...
Those who have lost jobs and homes and cars due to the economy ...
Families that are torn apart because for whatever reason husbands and wives don't LOVE one another ...
Hungry children ...
Those that don't have the "basics" of living day to day ...
Forces of nature that have stripped people of simple supplies to their very lives ... 

No matter what storm you are in - I Peter 5:6-11
"Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for
someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you  have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen."

It's hard for me to remember in the midst of my storms that others are going thru equal or even worse storms than me. When the winds blow so hard, when the darkness is so deep
- when I am pitched to and fro ... when my faith wavers.