The Beauty Of The Storm

So I know in my last post I did a introduction to what I said was going to be a series of post about the armor of God, and I fully intend to do the series of post, I am excited about them, but today I felt like the Lord was leading me to write about something else.
Recently I have been learning about trusting the Lord. Learning to trust the Lord is a hard... very hard thing. Why is it so hard? I think it's because we, as humans, think that love is to be shown through giving me everything that I want. This is plain selfishness This of course is normal to sinful human beings. We are all guilty of it. I am not saying that celebrating someone (a birthday for example) is wrong. Totally the opposite, your celebrating life. But when it becomes a thing where all you want is people to "worship" you and give you what you want, then that is sin.
But God loves in a different sort of way. A way that isn't selfish. God loves us, that's why He sends opportunities like hard struggles for us to trust Him. Wow! That's a little confusing isn't it? I know it is for me. I keep thinking, "God you love me, why did you let this happen to me?"
I wonder if God ever shakes his head and says, "You just don't get it do you Emma?" Or "How many times am I gonna have to teach you this lesson?" I know I would if I was Him. ;)
The past two weeks have been a struggle for me. There was many a time I wondered what exactly God was doing, and if He really cared why would He let this happen to me? In the back of my mind I knew that God did care and that God wasn't going to let me walk through this alone, but still I began to doubt... doubt is a terrible thing, because once its in your head, it's there and it can totally bring you down. With struggling with my doubt I began to feel frustrated with myself thinking, "Emma! You know the truth!! How many times have you been through this before?! You know God is still there and He loves you and is never going to leave you, so what's wrong with you?!"
I began to think yesterday how I needed to stop focusing so much on what was wrong in my life and start focusing on the blessings in my life. So I was saying in my head what I was thankful for throughout the day. That night in our family devotions my dad read this scripture;
John 10:27-30
"My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one."
Poppa then asked the question, "What does Jesus promise to those who follow Him? How does that make you feel?"
I felt like I had been hit with a sledgehammer with the name realization. It was a peaceful kind of hit with a sledgehammer though. I felt like doing a face-palm right then and there and saying, "I GET IT!"
I smiled as I said, "He promises and no one can snatch us out of His hands. We are His children. That makes me feel comforted."
And comforted was the exact word. I felt more peaceful then I had in a long time. I felt the comfort of knowing that God was with me, He loved me, not because anything I had done to deserve it, but because He is a merciful grace giving God. And that He wasn't going to leave me. That He would help me through not just this struggle, but all of my struggles.
I walked outside last night to get some fresh air and stopped to admire the sky. It was just about to rain, and I could hear thunder in the distance, but the sky was beautiful. There was a circle of storm clouds and through the middle of the circle there was a ray of sunshine, and it made me think, "Wow, God can make the most beautiful things even out of a storm."
God can make the most wonderful thing come out of a struggle, just like making a storm beautiful. All we have to do is trust Him. Because how loving is He, after He saves us, to call us His children or sheep, and promises that no one can pluck us out of His hand. I cannot think of a more loving Father.
Maybe your going through something hard. If so, I hope that somehow God has used my ramblings to encourage you. I hope and pray for you that you will grow in your struggle and learn to trust the Lord. And that you would remember that God is a loving Father and that He, "Will never leave you, nor forsake you."