The storms of our lives

I sink in deep mire,

    where there is no foothold;

I have come into deep waters,

    and the flood sweeps over me.

Psalm 69:2

God allows storms to arise in our lives. During these storms, powerful waves from the bottom of the sea lift up everything that has long lain at the bottom. Everything that was not done but should have been done, everything that was done but should not have been done, rises to the surface. Words that were spoken and heard, insults, resentments, unforgiveness, all rise to the surface. The storm washes away everything that had long been forgotten, seemingly buried peacefully in the depths of memory.

Waves of the Baltic Sea.

But suddenly, the storm of conflicts, unsolvable problems, and tension overturns the whole orderly image of our lives and our false peace, as well as our false maturity and spirituality. It rudely and unapologetically tears the masks from our faces and shows us our true selves, exposing us naked and unprotected before the threatening reality.

Storms are important. Like maturity tests, they check "who is who." They weigh us and tell us the truth about ourselves, show us our true faces, reveal to us what is deeply hidden within us but is still a part of us. None of us will find goodness and stunning beauty, inspiring images and majestic purity in ourselves during a storm. Its Adamic remnants are too finely shattered for us to be able to put them back together ourselves, to glue the pieces back into one.

Pastor Ramunas Jukna.

Thank God that Christ did not leave us alone, like Simon Peter who was drowning, but He reaches out His hand to each of us. Storms give us opportunities or even force us to call out to Christ again and again, to cling to Him through repentance, to lean on Him and follow Him again. Otherwise, we will stop, lose the path of the disciple and pilgrim, and no longer continue our journey after Jesus. However, successfully weathered storms allow us to see others around us, recognize true friends, notice and support those who are experiencing their own storms today.

Pastor Ramunas Jukna

#kasdiensuKristumi

#tikėtipatirtiirkeistis

#Panevėžioevangelinėbažnyčia

#bažnyčia

#Panevėžys