Peace in the Storm

(NOTE: This is a reprint of a post I wrote on 9/7/15, that was accidentally deleted)

It's one thing to say prayer changes things, but another altogether to stand on that affirmation when the going gets rough. Prayer is not something we put on like clothes. A better analogy would be armor. An even better would be skin. Life brings with it many challenges, but God is sufficient to meet them all. It's easy to say that when it's someone else fighting the battle, but not so much when we are the one under attack. Prayer can be far from our lips when we are the one facing the enemy.

Enemies abound, both physical and spiritual. We encounter them each and every day. Some of us may be facing huge challenges at this moment from any number of events. However, it's not the challenges that do us in; illness, financial difficulties, family disputes, etc. It's the inability we seem to have in these moments to keep the faith, to pray to the only One who can change things. He is our strength, our rock, our fortress, our high tower. If we will turn to Him in our hour of need, He will hide us under the shadow of His wings.

I heard a story recently about a contest. The participants were told to paint a picture of the most peaceful scene they could think of. Of course, most of the entries were of beaches, meadows, beautiful mountain scenes, fields of wildflowers. The winning entry, however, was of a raging storm replete with lightning and thunder, heavy rain and high winds. In the corner of this picture was a small cleft in the side of a mountain where a mother bird sat peacefully with her babies tucked safely under her wings.

That is what real faith is all about. It's not the absence of the storm, but the peace that God gives in the midst of it. May He grant peace to each of us as we face the storms in our lives.

Psalm 91:1 "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." (NKJV)