“When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.” I’ve heard this statement my whole life. It means that you have to roll with the punches, and you have to keep standing even when the storms in life hit you with astounding winds. My purpose though, is to say that even through the middle of the storms, peace is available to us, so that we can stand firm and become stronger as a result.
Life, even as a believer, isn’t always sunny and free of clouds. It honestly makes sense that people who don’t believe in God see that to us, being a Christian means that life is perfect. That is a big misconception. But we as believers wrongly portray our stormy seasons. We aren’t honest with our struggles. We want to portray that life with Jesus is amazing, and it is, but why can’t our walk be evidently amazing even in the storms?
Our storms build trust. Our storms build our faith that even though the sun is gone, the Son hasn’t left us. The song “Cornerstone” by Hillsong has some key words, “through the storm, He is Lord, Lord of all.” This is so key because it’s a prayer for us all that even when we can’t see how God is working, He has our victory set up for us. Scripture calls our storms a ‘refining of our faith’ in James 1:2-4. That Scripture has been encouraging me so much lately.
So I encourage us all, that when we experience disappointments like sickness, or job situations, or a breakup, or anything that negatively affects us, to really hold on to Christ. To really see that God has a plan for us, for our good and His glory, so that we may live lives full of real joy, not just temporary happiness. I also challenge that we as Christians really are honest with people. That we don’t just skim over our struggles, but rather that we are transparent so that people can be encouraged to be the same way… so that our walk becomes real and tangible, not just falsely fabricated as perfect. We can have peace in our storms by grounding ourselves to the Root of truth.
Much Love,
Ryan W.
