Throughout the course of history, there have been many “perfect storms” where the meteorological conditions collide for a massive, even violent, weather event.

What follows is often devastation unimaginable for many.

Stunned, they try to pick up the pieces and move forward.

In recent days, we have seen them – from fires to flood.

We have read the stories of loss.

But, even in those storms, God is in the midst.

He is not unaware.

He is not sleeping.

He is very much in control, providing and caring in ways many might miss if they don’t have eyes to see.

Yet, for those with eyes to see His hand, His tender mercies new every morning display evidence to settle the heart even through trembling, even through tears.

In life, there are often “perfect storms” that no one anticipates but which come nonetheless and wreak havoc on otherwise beautiful and often ordinary lives.

God’s people are faithfully living out their days with joy, yes struggles and not without sin, but with the grace of redemption, repentance, and God’s transforming power, without the cares they have watched others endure. They are seeking the will of God and genuinely want to grow in their faithfulness to and trust of the God who has created them and in whom they “live and move and have (their) being.” (Acts 17:28)

And in one moment, everything changes.

The diagnosis is bleak, the prognosis is scary.

The job that was sure and in which they thrived is no more.

The call came out of nowhere.

But, even in THOSE storms, God is in the midst.

He is not unaware.

He is not sleeping.

He is very much in control, providing and caring in ways many might miss if they don’t have eyes to see.

Yet, for those with eyes to see His hand, His tender mercies new every morning display evidence to settle the heart even through trembling, even through tears.

No one will escape the “perfect storms” of living in this world nor the lesser yet still hard difficulties that invade every life on a more regular basis. But we don’t need to live in fear of them, anticipating what the next moment might hold.

We live out our lives, not in fear but in simple faith and trust.

Because…

He knows.

He is preparing.

He is training us now to be faithful in the small things as He readies us for the bigger ones.

He is weaving His goodness amongst the terribly stifling and scary, the hard.

He is tender and merciful even in preparing us.

Are we listening?

Are we leaning in to Him or looking within ourselves?

Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart – I have overcome the world.”  (John 16:33)

Yes, we will all have the “hard.” It is His desire to use that hard to take our eyes off ourselves and rest in Him, grow in humility, dying to self and living for Him.

Your “hard” may not be the “perfect storm,” but it is the place God has you in a particular moment.

Every follower of Christ is called to grow in grace, to hate sin in and outside of us and to love righteousness, to stop living according to our own desires and passions, and let Him transform them to be in line with His.

All of us are all learning to rest in our Savior!

Regardless of the circumstances and our emotions, we are called to be still, to not fear regardless of the grief that comes from whatever the loss.

We are called to hope!

In the midst of the “perfect storm” or the “hard” that can feel unattainable.

Yet hundreds of times in the Bible, the very Word of God, we read, “Do not fear!” We may not understand how that can be, but we can experience His removal of fear supernaturally as we call on His Name in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24)

If He told us to do it, He will equip us.

As a family, we have walked through some “perfect storms” – individually and together over the years – and weathered them only through the strong right arm of the God who made a way for His people through the desert and who does it still.

We have found our Savior tenderly walking beside us, protectively, even carrying us, calling us to Himself, asking us to lay down the heavy burden and let Him hold it.

In some of those storms, we have walked alone; in others, He has brought dear ones to walk alongside us and take us to the cross when we needed an “army” to join us. It is these people who have answered the call to carry or to “Bear each other’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2)

And now, we journey with dear family and friends in their own “perfect storms.”

A diagnosis followed by healing, trailed by a second diagnosis with joy in between.  And now they battle again.

A chronic, debilitating disease wracks the body and makes life fully limiting.

A job shift out of nowhere despite great success and with more evidence of faithfulness in the future.

A call as a reminder of silence and broken relationships.

In each of these stories, there is sadness, a battle against fear of the known and unknown, a weariness…but there is more.

There is trust.

There is hope.

There is joy.

Not in the circumstances but in the Savior.

Yes, there are tears.

Yes, there are struggles laid at the feet of Jesus minute by minute.

But they say to themselves and to the watching world:

“I say to myself, ‘The LORD is my portion; therefore, I will wait for Him.’ The LORD is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him… Though He brings grief, He will show compassion, so great is His unfailing love.” Lamentations 3:24, 25, 32

And we walk with them.

We pray for and with them.

We weep with them.

We rejoice with them.

We boldly take them to the throne of grace that they may “receive mercy and grace to help in times of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)

We trust the Savior for them and with them.

We wait with them.

And we stand shoulder to shoulder in the hard, whatever that looks like.

Today, my precious niece, who herself is in the midst of one of those “perfect storms,” shared the following from a piece that was a reminder that, in the midst of whatever “hard” place we are in, we are not alone.

Finally, and maybe most important of all, let us remember that God knows “hard” more than any of us. He gave up His Son for us. And Jesus knows “hard.” The cross was ever before Him but remember what He did: “Going a little farther, He fell with His face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.’” (Matthew 26:39)

Jesus asked God to take away the hard! He showed us that it is okay, and maybe it is even more than okay … maybe it is holy and good to ask God to take our hard. Yet, He also acknowledged that may not be His Father’s plan. His plan was for Jesus to walk right into the hardest thing of all and, in doing so, to conquer it. Jesus stayed in the hard. He bore the hard. He conquered the hard.

LET US FOLLOW JESUS’ LEAD. LET US CRY OUT TO THE LORD WHEN THINGS ARE HARD OR NEW OR UNCOMFORTABLE. LET US LISTEN AND HEAR FROM OUR FATHER.

And, in this covenant community, let us cheer one another on as we are often called to walk right in the midst of the things that He has graciously called us to – as parents, as students, and as the family of Christ.

(Ansley Bonaventure, Perimeter Christian School)

We are promised difficult times, but, for the child of God, we are also promised the presence of our Savior. 

We are promised hope.

We can walk the hard.

We will walk the hard.

Let us walk it with our gaze fixed, not on ourselves, our circumstances, or the fearful future, but on the God who formed us, who called us by name, who promises to walk through the flood and the flame with us.

Let us walk it with those who love us deeply and intend to point us to our Living Hope.

Let us see Him…and He will give us rest in the weariest of our moments.

“Through (Jesus Christ) we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans 5:2-5

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” I Peter 1:3-9

(Photos credit: Mili Cook)