It can feel impossible to trust God when you are in the middle of a storm He knew was coming. Why couldn’t He just save us from it? If He did that, we wouldn’t get to learn and grow from the storm. Trust me, I have been through my share of storms. I have spent many nights crying into my pillow at night asking God why I am going through these storms. But I know there is always a reason behind the things God sends us through.

God uses storms to help us grow

Some of the biggest storms I’ve experienced have given God the space to do big things in my life. Sometimes we have to go through the storm, so it can strip away everything we are relying on and we meet God in the middle. We’ve all been in the middle of a storm and we feel like the water is rising and we can’t see the end. This is when I think we have the choice to either let this storm drown us and push us away from God, or let Him use this storm to help us grow and make us stronger.

Every one of us has gone through storms. I used to think God would send me through them alone, but he never left me. He was holding my hand and walking right through it with me. What is God trying to teach us when we are in the middle of our storm? Sometimes while I was going through a storm, I would let lies creep in telling me that God wasn’t in control. I started to believe He sent me through this storm alone. These lies were feeding my fears, worries and even doubts about who God is. I could have sat there and given up. I could have chosen to believe God abandoned me. I could have let the storm consume me. But it was then, when God asked me to be still in the middle of the storm. To allow Him to stretch and grow me in certain areas. You see, I think there’s a difference between head knowledge and heart knowledge. In my head it’s easy for me to say that God is good, but in my heart it’s a fight to stand firm in that belief. 

So, how do we choose to believe that God is in control when we are facing the storm?

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.

Isaiah 43:2

Recently I was going through what seemed like a never-ending storm. I remember sitting in my room crying out to God to stop the storm that was causing so much pain. Asking Him over and over why He was letting me walk through this alone.  He spoke this verse to me. The minute I read it I felt His peace and the reassurance that I wasn’t alone. I think when it’s hard for us to trust Him in the midst of all of our pain, we need to pray and ask Him to show us what He’s trying to do in our life. We also may need to ask Him to remind us of WHO HE IS.  The verse states that we will face the storms, but it says that we weren’t ever facing them alone.

When I look back at the storms I’ve gone through, there’s always something I learned at the end of it. Sometimes we need to look for the blessing in the midst of the storms. It may seem like we will be defeated but I can say and believe that our God wins every battle we face and NEVER leaves us alone.