We all go through really tough things, maybe you’re going through something now. It can be suffocating. We wake up wondering how we’ll get through the day, we feel broken, we wonder how to even put one step in front of the other. Tears won’t stop or rarely take breaks and it feels like the walls are closing in. Anyone else ever been there? I was there the week my mother died and in the months that followed; I was also there in the years prior while watching her slowly die from Alzheimers. I went through it again when my marriaged ended. There were days I just didn’t want to get out of bed and fight the battle and didn’t see an end to the pain it was causing me and those I loved. It felt hopeless.

As we all go through these things, it’s like being in the eye of the storm. Then, suddenly, we realize the waters are calming, the winds are slowing down, and there’s a light just ahead. We look around and realize we’re still here. We can often be pleasantly surprised, maybe even proud of ourselves for not giving up. And then suddenly, it happens again. We realize we’re on the other side, the storm has passed, we’re smiling again, maybe even laughing, we survived. We may still have days that are cloudy, that is life, but suddenly, we realize we’re not the same people we were before the storm. Maybe we aren’t supposed to be. Maybe we’re meant to be changed by it, become stronger, more open, more vulnerable to the hand of God working in our lives. Maybe we’re changed, taught something, that will help someone else who will eventually cross our path as their own storm rages.

Whatever the storm brings, God sees the person He intends us to be when it’s over. He’s walked through it with us and is already on the other side waiting. When we’re in it, the walk seems like forever, but suddenly, there we are. And maybe, just maybe, over time… or suddenly… we realize that maybe that was the purpose of the storm after all.

xoxo,

jcg