Sat on the porch swing today watching all the beautiful crimson cardinals on the feeders. I always feel Chief’s presence with the cardinals. The females, dressed in their fawn brown beauty, were flitting around the feeders, too. The wind chimes were singing along with the birds’ symphony. I watched the rain clouds, watercolored in their shades of purple and gray, bubble up and roll across the horizon. I came in the house and sat in my reading chair and watched out the window as the thunderstorm came alive. Sometimes when it storms, I hear God say, “Be still and know that I am God,” Psalm 46:10. He’s reminding us of his strength and his power over nature.

The storm was intense, lightning and thunder, torrential rain. The stormed calmed as the wind died down and the rain stopped. I was thinking life can sometimes be a thunderstorm. You just have to battle through it knowing there’s light at the end of the tunnel. We burst out of the darkness to see a rainbow stretched across the sky, God’s promise to never again send a flood to destroy life on earth. Genesis 9:13 reads, “This covenant signifies God’s commitment to protect and sustain life on earth, not to destroy it with a global flood.” We experience times of calmness and times of intense storms in our lives but God is committed to protect us. We have to put our trust in God and pray he will show us the way out of the darkness.

We can look at a thunderstorm as a metaphor for the challenges and changes we encounter in our daily lives. Difficult times can unexpectedly boil up without warning and bring a tempest of darkness to our life. We can let the storms dampen our faith or we can pray to the Lord for strength, take shelter in his arms. Psalms 107:28-31 reads, “Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress. He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed. They were glad when it grew calm, and he guided them to their desired haven.” Our faith teaches us how to weather the hardships before us and helps us find support and guidance from other faithful followers.

I think we can learn and grow spiritually through the storms of life. We all wish for our life to be perfect but life happens, clouds roll in and block the sun. But the storms pass, life picks back up, and we’re reminded to be thankful for our blessings. Sometimes we’re not appreciative of God’s gifts in our lives till a storm threatens us.

Give your heart to God and he’ll hold your hand as you walk through life’s trials. “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart,” Psalm 91:4. He’ll calm the storms, clear the clouds, and bring the sun back into your life. We can trust God in the storms.

“Sometimes the Lord rides out the storm with us and other times He calms the restless sea around us. Most of all, He calms the storm inside us in our deepest inner soul.” — Lloyd John Ogilvie