I wrote an article recently, and while writing, I began remembering a particularly bad hurricane that came through our area when I was a late teenager. I recalled going down to the beach to see what it was like after the storm. What I found was incredibly creepy but very eye-opening.

When I went down, there was flooding along the streets and sand all over the roads. When I went onto the beach itself, there was evidence of things that had been buried in the sand. I was amazed at the evidence of erosion. It was as if every storm took more and more sand, until it was hard to recognize it as the same place I had gone to as a child with my mom.

I began going back further in my memories, to when my mom and grandmother told us about the 1938 hurricane. Back then, no one knew it was coming. People didn’t have time to prepare. There was even a group of ladies from a church in town having a picnic on the beach when it came in. One of the ladies who had been there lived on our street.

I have begun helping in the Children’s Ministry at church once a month, assisting in the 2nd to 4th-grade classroom. Last month, the teacher discussed a lesson based on the scriptures in the book of Matthew in the Bible.

Matthew 7:24-27; “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell, and it was a great fall.” When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.”

It got me thinking. God had been placing these scriptures on my heart for some time before this. When God continues to bring it all to mind, I need to pay attention to it.

Storms of Life

It has felt lately like the storms of life, the challenges, spiritual warfare, and spiritual pruning season have been overwhelming in many ways. I have realized that these are also prime times to look back and see God’s faithfulness, which has been another frequent message to me lately.

Just as we see in the above examples of real-life storms, they tend to erode a little at a time, and they bring out things in us that we may not even know are there. Good and bad.

When storms come and we are not prepared, it can cause a lot of fear, panic, and a sense of running away, or even dying, from what we thought a season would be like, or even from life as we know it.

Lately, as I have looked back over the storms in my life, when sharing with people I mentor and podcasters asking me questions, I remember and begin seeking the Lord on what the difference is between then and now.

The answer lies in these scriptures.

I was walking with the Lord through other storms, but my house wasn’t built on Him. It was built on trusting myself to figure it out or fix it, or relying on other people or things.

In those moments, I was not depending fully on Him. I was not resting in Him. I wasn’t taking His yoke upon me and learning from HIm.

Proverbs 3:5-7 says: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes: Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your body and refreshment to your bones.

I wasn’t trusting Him with all of my heart, only maybe part of it. I was leaning on my own understanding and the overwhelming current of emotions that came with the storms. I was angry and frustrated with God for allowing these storms into my life, and I certainly thought I was being wise in my own eyes through some of it.

There has been a lot of fear and a strong desire to run, and my house was damaged.

Dealing with the damage

Just like the houses I saw after the storms, which had water, roof, and building damage, my mind, heart, and body were also damaged by these storms.

When I rebuilt my house, I built it differently. I took the lessons learned from past storms and made different choices in where I put my mind and my trust.

This is not easy. Rebuilding a house is a huge job, I know, because rebuilding a house was literally one of our storms.

When rebuilding my heart house, it took fixing my foundation. There were cracks that needed to be mended, and it needed to be sealed so nothing could get into it again.

Now, as the new season’s storms have arrived, I’ve noticed something. Even though concerns and anxieties are floating around, a steady underlying peace remains. The depression I have battled with all those years has not resurfaced one bit, and I believe God has freed me from it.

What has changed?

My foundation has been fixed and solidified. I am now standing on and living in the solid rock, my cornerstone, Jesus Christ.

I encourage you to remember, look back on the storms of life, and examine your foundation. Ask God to show you where there needs to be some renovations, and do the work.

New seasonal storms are expected to pass through, and the world is not becoming any calmer. There will not be a life without storms until we go home to Heaven. We want to be found standing on our rock when they come.

What is keeping you from trusting God with your whole heart?

What makes you stay, relying on yourself and your own understanding?

Will you choose to fully surrender and trust Jesus today?