Soul Stirrings: The winds are strong, but my God is stronger

I was with my 5 year old nephew at a baseball game when it started to storm. As the winds picked up and the trees bowed down, we figured it was time to head for shelter. So off we went, heads down, leaning into the driving wind.

It was the kind of wind that made the rain hurt when it hit your face.

We got into the vehicle when Payton began to cry as he buried his face in my arm.

"Ooooh, I'm scared!"

I held his head close to me. "What are you afraid of?"

Briefly looking out the window he frantically tried to burrow his head deeper into my arm. "The clouds! They're scaring me!!!"

The clouds were rather ominous. Swirling around in the dark sky changing form and color by the second. I couldn't blame him for being scared; I had butterflies in my stomach watching the storm clouds roll in too.

"I know it's scary buddy, but look at me."

He lifted his head enough to see me with one eye. "What?"

"Who made those clouds?" A subtle smile began to creep onto my face.

"God did." He buried his face again.

"He sure did buddy. And you know what that means, don't you? That means God is in control of those clouds too."

His body relaxed and his tears stopped momentarily as he lifted his head up to peak outside again.

About that time, a gust of wind blew through, shaking the vehicle.

"But Jessie!! Your jeep is shaking! Ohhhh, I'm scared! What if the wind knocks your jeep over?!" He buried his face again as the tears began to fall.

"I know it's scary buddy, but God controls every storm. So it's actually kinda cool. Storms show us how powerful God is. I know the winds are strong, but God is stronger." This time, I felt my body relax as His peace came flooding in.

Sometimes you have to preach to yourself.

"Well I don't like storms. I want to go. Can we just drive? I want to leave NOW!!"

I had to laugh. It was one of those, "I hear ya" laughs. His reaction to the storm was the same as my reaction to the storms in my life. I want to run away from it all. I guess we never really grow out of wanting to avoid storms.

I sighed as I grabbed his sweet hand.

"Listen buddy, Aunt Jessie doesn't like storms either. But sometimes it storms and we just have to sit and wait it out."

It was quiet, for a moment, in the car and in my heart. The storm was raging outside and I had no idea what the storm would bring, but I was still.

The winds are strong, but my God is stronger.

"'Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?'" (Mark 4:41b)

In Job 36-37, it talks of God's greatness and His power over the storms. "Behold, God is great, and we know him not...Behold, he scatters his lightning about him and covers the roots of the sea. ... He covers his hands with the lightning and commands it to strike the mark. Its crashing declares his presence....Keep listening to the thunder of his voice and the rumbling that comes from his mouth. ...God thunders wondrously with his voice, He does great things that we cannot comprehend."

"Its crashing declares His presence."

There is a 5 year old child in me that wants to bury my head and cry and look around at the power of the storm and feel so small and overwhelmed and overcome by its power. It's the same part of me that wants to run away from it all. The same part that doesn't like storms.

But this verse, resounds deeply in me. "Its crashing declares His presence" (Job 36:33a).

The Lord makes His very presence known in clear, loud, attention getting ways in the midst of a storm. He DECLARES His presence. This verse is just so heavy in truth and hope and sustenance. In the midst of a storm, He is with me. And He boldly makes His presence known to me in the claps of thunder and bolts of lightning. This God, who scatters lightning and calms the sea is with me. And He loves me.

Are there dark clouds swirling around your life? Do you find yourself looking around you and saying, "but what if??" Are you tempted to run from adversity or struggles rather than face them?

Remember, our God is more powerful than the most powerful storm! The storm declares His presence!! He is with you and He loves you. He is in control and He has a purpose.

"Keep listening to the thunder of his voice and the rumbling that comes from his mouth. ...God thunders wondrously with his voice, He does great things that we cannot comprehend" (Job 37:2,5).

Be still.

Though the winds may swirl and the rain hurts.

Be still.