I checked the forecast before I went to sleep last night. No rain expected until mid-morning…awesome, plenty of time to finish morning chores and stay dry!
Before my eyes opened this morning, my ears identified the pitter-patter rhythm of rain drumming on my metal roof – and I knew (sigh) that the forecast was off. So, I donned my raincoat and muck boots and picked up my milking pail and started my chores.
As a farmer, I check weather apps often. It is helpful to plan chores around the weather conditions. It would be even more helpful if the forecasters were accurate.
I guess even with specialized equipment and technology, the forces of nature are still impossible to predict with certainty. We are going to encounter unpredicted storms in life. It might be a drizzle, it might be a hurricane – but we do not always see what is coming.
Those unexpected situations challenge us because they are not part of our perfect plan for our perfect life. But the truth is, we can’t grow closer to Christ – we can’t deepen our faith and live out HIS love – if we haven’t been challenged, shaken and maybe even broken.
As long as we insist on controlling our lives, there is no room for course corrections. Hearing, discerning and obeying the voice of God requires faith and flexibility (an open spirit). So, because He loves you, He may bring or allow an unpredicted storm in your life for some “course correction”.
Pride is a wall that keeps God at a distance. Fear is burden that limits your ministry. Insecurity is a lie that pulls you away from your Godly calling. Arrogance is a distraction that turns people away. Addiction is a tool of the enemy to keep engaged in anything but the things of God.
Our Father in heaven, who can have anything He wants, wants YOU more than anything else. So He will allow storms to roll in and hit some of those walls! The situations and challenges that we did not plan for provide us an opportunity to choose Him, again; to love Him and to lean on Him; to re-commit to Him and to find our purpose in Him.
We can go through life, storms and all, on our own. But that is not the life I want. So I will take the storms and I will look for the lessons and the opportunity to see God’s plan for me through them. I will keep my heart soft and my spirit open so He can correct my course – for my good and for His Glory. What will you choose today?
“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” Proverbs 19:21
