Peggy Boldizsar Nunley

Have you ever been driving through a storm?  The sky looks clean, clear, and blue, then suddenly everything grows dark?! You begin to hear the whistle of the wind, rain begins thrashing on your windshield and thunderous lightening rolls across the skies….

In some storms there is always ‘a moment’ that is the eeriest. The storm grows dark quickly and everything seems to stop suddenly. It is a suspicious calm in the midst of chaos. Where I come from, this is when you attune your ears to tornado sirens. You see, it’s the stillness in the storm that always comes before your greatest threat.  

If you have ever been in the middle of a tornado you know exactly what I’m talking about.  You have this raging wind, pounding hail, fierce rain and then like an abrupt stop, complete stillness. 

An eerie quiet overtakes the noise. Then, like a train howling outside your door,  disaster hits. 

Weird isn’t it, that in storms, it’s the Stillness and the Calm that are your gauge for how dangerous it really is outside? 

I don’t know about you, but I often pray for stillness. I pray for calm in my chaos. I don’t, however, always consider the threat that comes in the stillness. 

When life is thrashing out of control, I want control. When it makes a caterpolt in the opposite direction, I want quick answers. 

When it’s not moving, I want action. 

My heart is never satisfied. I hate waiting and I hate uncertain moving. 

The truth is our hearts are deceitfully wicked above all else, who can know it? – Jeremiah 17:9 Truth is, our hearts are #NEVERsatisfied. 

David proclaims in the Psalms, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil…” The valley of the shadow of  death can be the thrashing of the storm or the stillness before the greatest threat. David says he can walk through it because, “Thou art with me, Thy rod and Thy staff, comfort me.” 

Could it be that maybe we focus on the wrong thing? Peace doesn’t come because things are still. It comes when we put our ‘full focus’ and ‘trust in the One who walks with us,’ DESPITE the circumstance. 

Maybe,  the physical picture of stillness in the middle of a storm is really the place where we walk in the greatest risk. Maybe, God has allowed that place to be set as a reminder that no matter what disaster comes toward us, we have a choice to make….. We can fill ourselves with the presence of the God who CONTROLS the storm or we can  focus on the threat of the unknown future. 

Today I choose,  in the middle of my storm, to focus on the ‘Prince of Peace.’  I choose to let moments of stillness to remind me that I serve the God of ALL Peace. He walks with me, guiding me, and comforting me, no matter what the future holds. I don’t have to trust in my solutions but I am called to take shelter in the ONE that has ALL the answers. The ONE who CONTROLS the wind, the rain, the thunder and the ONE who CONTROLS the storm.   My God controls it ALL. Today I choose to trust Him.  

How about you? How are you doing in your storm? Where are you taking refuge?  When the moments of stillness arise,  are you looking at the darkness around you or are you going to choose to take refuge in the one that owns your future? 

Let’s choose  to hold onto and remember this promise, 

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched. Nor will the flame burn you.” (Isaiah 43:2)