A Guide to Help You Navigate Through the Storms of Life
This path that we walk called life is ever changing. Some days the sun is shining and the sky is blue. Other days, it’s cold and windy. Sometimes there are sirens going off; warning us of a storm ahead. Sometimes we end up in the middle of a storm with no warning. No matter what, we must learn how to navigate the storms that come. We have to learn how to handle the process of pain and understand its vitality in our progress as we tread ahead on the pathway. I have had to navigate some serious storms in my life and I can easily assume that you have too.
Jesus is the ultimate navigator of storms
Jesus faced storms in His life; some that we could never imagine the sheer force behind them. We can gain great strength and wisdom by studying how Jesus handled himself in the midst of storms. Something I’ve always challenged myself with is the fact that Jesus could have taken the easy way out. He had the power to do whatever He wanted, but He faced the storm and he overcame! But my question to myself is this, “If I could take the easy way out, would I?” That’s worth spending some time thinking about.
The way of God versus the way of man
Being fully man and fully God, Jesus must have had quite the internal conflict. This is clear in Matthew 16 when He explained to his disciples the horrifying suffering that He would face. I always used to wonder why Jesus called Peter “Satan”, especially after Peter had just confessed that Jesus truly was the Son of God. In my opinion, Peter was just saying what any of us would say to someone who we loved. He was voicing his human-natured support for Jesus when he said, “this couldn’t possibly happen to You, Lord.” But the internal conflict between man and God is clear because Jesus had to intensely choose to forge on in this way. How easy would it have been for Him to listen to Peter and fly out of there! The decision alone would have been too much for most of us to deal with, yet Jesus knew what He had to do and no easy way would do it.
Jesus overcame and now we can too
Jesus was humiliated, mocked, beaten, pierced and hung on a cross to die, so that we may all have victory over death! His decision to die paved a way for us. His overcoming enables us to endure and overcome the trials that we encounter on our journeys.
In John 16:33 Jesus said,
I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have trouble and trials and distress and frustration; but take heart! For I have overcome the world! [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.] (Amplified Bible)
Keep forging ahead!
Unfortunately, we all have to face storms in life; some big and some small. But with Christ, we have already been given a hope! To say that the path is difficult is an understatement, but we must keep forging ahead.
Pain has a process
When you face a season filled with pain and your heart is breaking, you must remember that pain has a process and that process takes time. The only way to heal is to let time pass and keep moving forward. However, many people can never get this done; they can never move on. When we have too much baggage weighing on us from pain, suffering, hurt, or any storm we face, it can cause us to get stuck. We get stuck in our pain and we never overcome it because we never truly let go. When you release the load off your back, the baggage you’ve been carrying for so long; you learn to walk in the authority that Christ has given you.
Here are some keys to navigate the storms in your life:
- Let go of the things that are weighing you down.
- Believe in God’s love for you.
- Understand that pain has a process and that it’s going to take time.
- Surround yourself with positive enforcement.
- Stay focused on your calling and your identity in Christ.
What storms are you currently facing? Are you able to approach them with a fresh perspective now?
