NTMWD 2025 Summer

Weathering the storms of life

by | Jun 24, 2015 | Opinion

By Christopher Everson

Pastor of Pleasant Valley United Methodist Church, Sachse TX

My wife Tracy travels for work from time to time, and one of her recent trips took her to Florida. As luck would have it, a tropical storm blew into the area while she was there. This was a bit disconcerting for both of us, as her return trip home became a bit of a question mark and not a certainty.

The night before she was supposed to come home, it rained without ceasing…and the next morning wasn’t much better. Travel delays seem to be a routine thing in the airline industry, so we were preparing for a late arrival home.

Unbelievably, Tracy boarded the plane on time and was lucky enough to arrive home without delay. When she got home, I asked about the flight, thinking I’d hear stories of turbulence and bad weather. Instead, her answer surprised me: “It was a beautiful day!”

Confused, I inquired further. How could it have been a beautiful day when the weather was so nasty? I mean, come on… there was a tropical storm bearing down on her location!

Tracy went on to explain: “Yeah, the weather was gross, and the takeoff was really choppy. But then we broke through the storm and got above the clouds… and I saw the blue sky and sun shining. If you looked down, you could still see the storm and all its turmoil, but that’s not where my focus was. I was enjoying the sunshine of a beautiful day!

That’s how our lives can be sometimes. Our circumstances can be all consuming… dark and dreary… a storm on the horizon… and no apparent way out. The psalms are full of accounts of the darkness times imaginable. The psalmists knew all too well the pain and struggles that life can bring.

One of my favorite psalms is Psalm 22. In this psalm, David is having an all-out argument with himself. He feels completely abandoned by God…in fact, he even uses the word “forsaken”. He talks about his constant cries of anguish going unanswered. Isolated and depressed, all David could see was the storm.

And then in the next breath, he reminds himself of the fact that God has been so faithful to him in the past. He reminds himself of his ancestors’ faith… and how he has trusted God his entire life. He remembers all the times that God has come to the rescue in his life and the lives of those who came before him.

In this psalm, David is detailing a full-on wrestling match. Everything he was experiencing right then and there (doubt) was pitted against everything he knew to be true from past experience (faith).

David is no different than us. Our struggles can be all consuming, and we can get discouraged to the point that there appears to be no help for us. This is a lonely place to be. But when you break through the storms of life and focus on hope for the future, things start looking a little brighter. Sometimes all it takes is shifting our focus.

If this is where you find yourself today, take a few minutes and remind yourself of the good things in your life… how God has been faithful to you and your family in the past. Write them down as you recall each incident, and take time to really reflect on them. Consider sharing them with a trusted friend. God hasn’t forgotten you in your struggles.

Trust Him.

 

Collin Summer 2025

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property ET_Builder_Module_Comments::$et_pb_unique_comments_module_class is deprecated in /home/csmediatexas/wylienews/wp-content/themes/Divi/includes/builder/class-et-builder-element.php on line 1380

0 Comments

Subscribe RH Love

Related News

Abbott vetoes THC ban, calls special session

Abbott vetoes THC ban, calls special session

Gov. Greg Abbott just before the midnight deadline Sunday vetoed a bill on THC products and said he would call a special legislative session to regulate products containing the substance. The veto angered the bill’s chief champion, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Abbott’s...

read more
Clutching the past

Clutching the past

Columnist John Moore learned to drive on a stick shift. He still uses a clutch to operate his tractor. Courtesy John Moore One of the necessities of my youth is now one of your best bets to prevent vehicle theft: a stick shift. I watch a lot of YouTube, and...

read more
Polished

Polished

Columnist John Moore still shines his own shoes. As long as he can find the polish to buy. Photo: John Moore In some cultures, people wash the feet of guests who arrive at their home. At my parents’ house, I didn’t wash the feet of guests, but I did offer to shine...

read more
The chain gang

The chain gang

Columnist John Moore misses the old chain stores, one of which, Gibson’s, still exists in Kerrville, Texas. Photo John Moore Online shopping has turned us into couch potatoes who buy more than we ever used to. Adding items to an imaginary cart and clicking, “Buy Now,”...

read more
 A free gift inside

 A free gift inside

Columnist John Moore eats a lot of jelly, but not for the reason you might think. Photo: John Moore My sister and I would make a beeline for the cereal aisle at the Piggly Wiggly while my mom did the shopping.  Decisions, decisions. Did we want to roll the dice...

read more
Jumping to conclusions

Jumping to conclusions

Columnist John Moore finds himself a little lost with new technology. Sometimes lost a lot. Courtesy John Moore Folks aren’t counting on each other like we were 50 years ago. And technology is the wedge that’s come between us. Our parents didn’t worry about us much...

read more
Gardens and Grandma

Gardens and Grandma

Columnist John Moore didn’t like gardens as a kid. That’s changed thanks to his grandmothers. Photo: John Moore As a kid, I hated the vegetable garden. If you stood on our back porch, it was to your left. It took up the entire corner of our large yard. To me, gardens...

read more
Insurance crisis hitting public schools

Insurance crisis hitting public schools

Severe weather from hurricanes and other weather events has not spared the state’s public schools, resulting in skyrocketing property insurance costs, the Houston Chronicle reported. Insurance costs for districts have increased by 44% statewide in the past five years,...

read more
A numbers game

A numbers game

You don't see phone books much anymore. But even when they were around, columnist John Moore was nowhere to be found in one.Courtesy John Moore For those of us who once made our living working on the radio, one of the main competitors we had for advertising dollars...

read more
Order photos