When it Rains it Pours

Despite the literal truth of this statement flooding my community as you read this, I can’t help but feel the full torrential force of life’s storms. When the wind is raging and the rain won’t relent, there are times when we feel hopelessly swept away in the flood of our trials.

Grief, finances, failures, illness, relationships.

Dreams.

All the pieces, big and small, that make up a life.

Sometimes it feels like the things we fight most fervently for are the first things ripped from our grasp while we flounder in the ever swelling problems threating to dishearten and drown.

Whether it’s weariness or resignation to that inevitable ebb and flow of life’s ups and downs, the crushing weight of those raining problems can leave us hesitant to hope for the sunrise. The rainbow. The promise of deliverance. Hesitant, or maybe desperate, to cling to that small, sometimes rapidly fraying, thread of faith holding us together.

Ever been right there? In desperate need of a lifeline?

Right there, in that perfectly catastrophic storm, the truth you need the most can fall on deaf ears. Those spoon fed assurances are easier to swallow when you aren’t up to your neck in the deep end, battle weary and gasping for breath. When that storm front is bearing down. When the dark cloud blinds you to the light breaking just out of reach. 

Assurances like…

“God won’t give you more than you can handle.”

“His yoke is easy.”

“Cast your cares on Him.”

“The Lord is my strength.”

“This, too, shall pass.”

“He has not given you a spirit of fear.”

“What the devil meant for evil, God can turn around for good.”

All powerful truths. And yet, all, at times, feel as cliché as the title of this post.

Ever fought against a current? Not quite as easy as it looks, is it? And in that same way, activating our faith, walking the walk, surrendering control, just being still can feel about as difficult as walking on water.

But you know… how we feel doesn’t change what is.

Your doubts, your weaknesses and struggles don’t change the fact that God’s got it. That he will not leave you. That no matter how alone you feel in your storm, he can and will intervene to calm the raging sea and keep you from going under.

Your feelings in your overwhelming moment of despair are sorely unmatched for the truth of who has you, your current pain, and your future triumph in His hands. In the middle of that storm, the water is high, your fear is powerful, your eyes can’t see what’s ahead. They are stuck, right there with you, on the bleak, blinding chaos.

Don’t panic. You’re going to bungle it at times. You will take on water. You will, without a doubt, get wet. 

And that’s okay. Sometimes we need to fall in to wash some stuff off. To remember we are not in control. That, though He didn’t cause your storm, He can still command the waves.

Thank God.

Rest and know. The flood will not take you because, whether you grasp it or not, you have the ultimate life raft at your disposal. What you feel does not have to define who you are.

An heir. A testimony. A champion.

And held.

Just keep swimming toward help … He’s closer than you think.

<3 Amy

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Amy Leigh Simpson writes romantic mysteries with honesty and humor, sweetness and spice, and gritty reality covered by grace. When she’s not stealing moments at naptime to squeeze out a few more adventures in storyland, she’s chasing around two tow-headed miscreants (Ahem)—boys, playing dress up with one sweet princess baby, and being the very blessed wife to the coolest, most swoon-worthy man alive. Amy is a Midwestern-girl, a singer, blogger, runner, coffee-addict, and foodie. Her Sports Medicine degree is wasted patching up daily boo boo’s, but whatever is left usually finds its way onto the page with fluttering hearts, blood and guts, and scars that lead to happily ever after.

Check out her NEW romantic mystery novel FROM WINTER'S ASHES! Available NOW!