1 Peter 5:10

 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast ~ 1 Peter 5:10


As I look out my window the winter winds are whipping around the snow in a frenzy of circular paths. One moment the winds are to the east and the next to the south, seeming to have no fixed pattern. All outside seems confused as to which way the snow must blow. Inside my apartment, I am warm and protected from those winds which flit about on the other side of my window. This would be the ideal way the storms of life would come upon us. All the suffering would be on the outside, but inside we are full of peace, we are strong and firm throughout the storm. It does not happen this way though, does it. When the storm of suffering comes from the outside it rises in confusion on our inside as well. We wonder why this storm has come upon us, for all seemed well and good. What is the purpose of my going through this, we wonder? Yet, God always has a plan for the storms of our life. Without them we would be weak and powerless. Our faith would be flimsy and passive. We would become like a tree without deep roots, and we would fall over when a big storm hit. Each time we endure through suffering we change, we grow, our roots spread further and deeper in our confidence of our God and his restoration powers. Though we do not like the storms of life, we need them. God wants us to have the ability to trust deeper, stand stronger, be more faithful, and build our patience through our storms as we grow more and more into his likeness.
Pastor Julia
image by pixabay 

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