Friday, February 1, 2008

"Sometimes God calms the storm...

Sometimes He lets the storm rage and calms His child."

I bought a print of this and framed it for in our bedroom. I actually got it on allposters.com for $2 which allowed me free shipping instead of paying $5.95 for shipping when I bought Peter's 2008 3 stooges calendar for Christmas. For some reason it spoke to me then and since then I feel like I'm gaining a better understanding and perspective on just what that means.

God never promises us to take away the "storm" that we're in....whatever that may be. BUT---He does promise to always be with us in/during the storm.

This past week at our bible study on Tuesday night I spoke with some ladies-about the same year old as me and 1 who was well older than me. And it was very disappointing to hear their thoughts on what we were learning about. Each of them were basically saying that if they make the conscious decision that whatever they are doing is wrong or needs fixed, all they need to do is pray "God take it away". Unfortunately that's not the case. God gives us our situations for a reason and a purpose and until that purpose is fulfilled, it doesn't "go away". Sometimes it will be with us for our whole lives because it is molding us into who God wants us to be. I guess they've just never had to deal with something like that yet maybe? Who knows. I sure hope that when the time comes, they'll know it's not that easy. If that were the case, we pretty much wouldn't even need God because He wouldn't be helping us, we wouldn't be being faithful....it would just be "Take it away" and "poof!-it's gone".

I'm learning more and more that when something is going wrong or whatever situation I'm in, I try to look at it with the question in my mind "God-what am I supposed to be learning here? What is my lesson?" and it truly makes all the difference in the world. Sometimes I could be completely outraged by something but if I ask myself that question, the rage is substituted for questioning and chasing...chasing after God's will.

For instance, when Peter had to go to DC. I was really upset because it was his days off, his boss is a jerk, I'd miss him, etc etc etc. But when I was alone on Saturday and questioning the situation, struggling over the importance of it relating to me-I really suprised myself. Maybe because first of all, the situation really didn't have anything to do with me at first glance. After deeper inspection of it though, I proved myself wrong. It had an indirect affect on me of course with Peter not being there for a weekend, but that's not the end of it.

The major thing I heard God telling me was that He was all I needed. A very good reminder because anything could happen to Peter in the blink of an eye. And I'd be devasted. Truly devastated because he's my best friend, my husband, etc. But even in the worst case scenario, God would be with me-a comforting fact. Sometimes I think it's so easy to put God on the back burner even to Peter because we work apart all day and I am so excited to talk to him, find out how his day was, hang out together, etc....but even though those things are all good, God is more important. It's almost like the physicalness of just having Peter in person makes it more challenging to keep God #1. But I have to. So that's been something I guess I've been challenged with lately and God used that weekend kind of to open my eyes and show me that Peter could be gone in a second...and where would I be? I'd still have God...which is all I need.

Don't get me wrong---I love Peter to death. I would do anything for him and am the happiest and luckiest girl in the world to be married to him. But that doesn't mean he comes before God. And I never intentionally make that decision, but in retrospect can see that sometimes my actions reflect that which is something I just need to work on. As much as I love connecting with Peter, I love connecting with God more. And God wants me to have Him as #1.

In summary: on earth, Peter is #1. In everything-God is.

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