In 2006, my family and I moved to the island of Guam. I was entering my third trimester of pregnancy and my whole life was changing at once. In the same year, I got married, got pregnant and moved 8,000 miles across the world! Needless to say, it was a stressful time in my life, but also a very exciting time for me. It was the beginning of a new adventure.
I love adventure.
After arriving on the island, everything was a whirlwind. We moved into our new house. Everything felt stable and we began to get comfortable with our new life. We began to really feel the excitement of a new baby coming soon, new experiences and new adventures together as a family.
Two months later, I found that adventure was coming my way...in the form a typhoon. A giant swirling vortex of air and water, barreling down on the island. I was getting close to my due date. My husband works on generators, so he was called out into the rain and winds to pull in generators from around the island. This left me at home, frantically pulling outdoor items into my living room and dining room, having no idea what was about to happen.
On the island of Guam, if you are close to your due date, the hospital requires that you come to stay with them during the storm--just in case your baby makes his/her arrival. I packed a bag for the hospital. I realized at that moment that my daughter couldn't come to the hospital, my husband wasn't home and I knew nobody to watch her that I trusted. It was a horrible thought to leave my child with near-strangers in a storm without me. You want to talk about stress? I definitely was stressing out. I called my parents, in-laws, pretty much everyone I knew and was crying.
The storm was going to come. It didn't care what I needed, or didn't have, or wanted to have. It was just simply coming toward me. I sent my daughter to the next door neighbor's house and they promised to keep her safe until my husband returned home. I had to get into my car and drive away from her. The winds of the storm were already quite strong. At this time in my life, I was not believing in Jesus and following God in my life, and the anxiety was unbearable. I cried all the way to the hospital.
As I lay in my hospital bed, I couldn't sleep for a minute. All night, I worried about the safety of my husband and daughter. I believed that I was safe in a large, sturdy building, but in my mind our house had never been storm-tested (not true, but that's what I believed). It was miserable for me. It was one of the longest nights of my life. As the storm passed over, I could hear the strong winds howling outside the building and I knew the rain was pouring down, but I didn't turn to God in my time of distress. I just suffered in fear, anxiety and dread.
This is the way many people experience life...
Life can feel like a road that travels from one stormy place to the next. Life can be full of trouble, trials, fears, anxieties and uncertainties. Life can be downright scary sometimes. We just don't know what will happen next to us, our families, or friends. We don't know when a major storm might be coming. Where do we find comfort and peace, or does it just seem like the longest night ever when we face a trial?
Is there peace?
As a Christian, storms come. They come, and come, and come--sometimes. The trials do not stop. The fears can begin to weigh on the heart and we do feel anxiety.
As Christians, we have a place of refuge. Jesus Christ is our refuge and our strength. He is our place of perfect peace. Turning to him can make a devastating storm feel like a day on the beach.
I remember experiencing the eye of the storm as it passed over us. I have experienced the stillness of the center of a storm (more than once) and it's strange and eerie, but everything is very still and absolutely nothing is moving at all. It's a place that I wish everyone could experience--at least once.
When the storms of life come and we turn to Jesus, He draws us into the eye of the storm...that strange, but beautifully still place where we can ride out the storm's swirling winds. You know you are in the center of God's will when troubles are all around you, and yet you feel the peace of God overwhelm you and keep you perfectly still. Your eyes may see the fast-approaching storms of life, but you retreat into the stillness of the eye of the storm--you seek the will of God and get into the center of it. When you're there, you just know it. It's a stillness and a peace that you can't describe.
Everything seems to be going wrong--and yet--you are exactly where you need to be.
You just know it. You feel it. It's the refuge of God.
Next time you face a storm in life, ask God to take you into the center of His will. Ask Him to still your heart and calm your fears, and to give you perfect peace that surpasses all understanding. The eye of the storm--the center of God's will--is the perfect place to be.
Psalm 91:2 (NASB)
I will say to the LORD, "My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!"
Philippians 4:7 (NLT)
Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:17-18 (KJV)
Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
I love adventure.
After arriving on the island, everything was a whirlwind. We moved into our new house. Everything felt stable and we began to get comfortable with our new life. We began to really feel the excitement of a new baby coming soon, new experiences and new adventures together as a family.
Two months later, I found that adventure was coming my way...in the form a typhoon. A giant swirling vortex of air and water, barreling down on the island. I was getting close to my due date. My husband works on generators, so he was called out into the rain and winds to pull in generators from around the island. This left me at home, frantically pulling outdoor items into my living room and dining room, having no idea what was about to happen.
On the island of Guam, if you are close to your due date, the hospital requires that you come to stay with them during the storm--just in case your baby makes his/her arrival. I packed a bag for the hospital. I realized at that moment that my daughter couldn't come to the hospital, my husband wasn't home and I knew nobody to watch her that I trusted. It was a horrible thought to leave my child with near-strangers in a storm without me. You want to talk about stress? I definitely was stressing out. I called my parents, in-laws, pretty much everyone I knew and was crying.
The storm was going to come. It didn't care what I needed, or didn't have, or wanted to have. It was just simply coming toward me. I sent my daughter to the next door neighbor's house and they promised to keep her safe until my husband returned home. I had to get into my car and drive away from her. The winds of the storm were already quite strong. At this time in my life, I was not believing in Jesus and following God in my life, and the anxiety was unbearable. I cried all the way to the hospital.
As I lay in my hospital bed, I couldn't sleep for a minute. All night, I worried about the safety of my husband and daughter. I believed that I was safe in a large, sturdy building, but in my mind our house had never been storm-tested (not true, but that's what I believed). It was miserable for me. It was one of the longest nights of my life. As the storm passed over, I could hear the strong winds howling outside the building and I knew the rain was pouring down, but I didn't turn to God in my time of distress. I just suffered in fear, anxiety and dread.
This is the way many people experience life...
Life can feel like a road that travels from one stormy place to the next. Life can be full of trouble, trials, fears, anxieties and uncertainties. Life can be downright scary sometimes. We just don't know what will happen next to us, our families, or friends. We don't know when a major storm might be coming. Where do we find comfort and peace, or does it just seem like the longest night ever when we face a trial?
Is there peace?
As a Christian, storms come. They come, and come, and come--sometimes. The trials do not stop. The fears can begin to weigh on the heart and we do feel anxiety.
As Christians, we have a place of refuge. Jesus Christ is our refuge and our strength. He is our place of perfect peace. Turning to him can make a devastating storm feel like a day on the beach.
I remember experiencing the eye of the storm as it passed over us. I have experienced the stillness of the center of a storm (more than once) and it's strange and eerie, but everything is very still and absolutely nothing is moving at all. It's a place that I wish everyone could experience--at least once.
When the storms of life come and we turn to Jesus, He draws us into the eye of the storm...that strange, but beautifully still place where we can ride out the storm's swirling winds. You know you are in the center of God's will when troubles are all around you, and yet you feel the peace of God overwhelm you and keep you perfectly still. Your eyes may see the fast-approaching storms of life, but you retreat into the stillness of the eye of the storm--you seek the will of God and get into the center of it. When you're there, you just know it. It's a stillness and a peace that you can't describe.
Everything seems to be going wrong--and yet--you are exactly where you need to be.
You just know it. You feel it. It's the refuge of God.
Next time you face a storm in life, ask God to take you into the center of His will. Ask Him to still your heart and calm your fears, and to give you perfect peace that surpasses all understanding. The eye of the storm--the center of God's will--is the perfect place to be.
Psalm 91:2 (NASB)
I will say to the LORD, "My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!"
Philippians 4:7 (NLT)
Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:17-18 (KJV)
Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
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