Getting Through Life’s Storms

A storm is brewing and if the weather report is accurate, it’s going to be savage: temperatures quickly dropping from the mid 40’s to -2 degrees, winds up to 60 mph, rain changing to sleet to ice then snow. Yay.

I’ve spent the last 2 days bringing in sheep bedding, storing extra hay close to the barns, filling waterers and checking water heaters to be sure they’re working, tying down things that could go air born — -trying to foresee all the things that could possibly happen or go wrong. It’s physically and mentally exhausting but worth all the effort.

As the day progresses, I can feel the wind shifting, the temperature dropping, and my sheep are hunkered down as they instinctively do when there’s a storm coming. There’s a storm coming and all they can do is lay there and ruminate. They’re not panicked, they’re not worried or stressed. Why? Because they’ve been through storms and have always survived. They know from past experience they are safe from harm because their Shepherdess has “got this”. I admire their faith in my abilities to keep them safe. If only they knew my faith in me is sometimes shaky at best.

Even though I’ve been through so many storms over my life, my faith can wax and wane as I am going through them. I have often (secretly) wondered if my Good Shepherd has “got this” as I feel the pummeling blows of heartache and sorrow and pain. Sometimes in the midst of the storm I want to cover my head and pretend the storm isn’t there — not deal with it.

Some of my life’s most difficult storms have come with a little warning, a forecast giving me some time to prepare for the eventual difficulties ahead. When my son was diagnosed with a terminal illness, he lived almost a year after his diagnosis. That time with him helped me to somewhat prepare for what was ahead, to spend 24/7 with him, to see his life and upcoming death as a natural progression — as natural a progression as there can be when you lose a child before the age of 2 or any loved one before their time, whatever we perceive their time to be.

Other times life’s storms have come without warning and seem to come from nowhere like when my full of life, 24-year-old nephew died almost instantly in an accident — here then gone in a literal heartbeat. Or when I had an unexpected stroke 2 years ago.

Here’s the thing that I have found to be true about my life’s storms, they always end. Sometimes sooner than later. Sometimes later than sooner. But the storm always does end, and I have always survived it. Another thing I have also found to be true about storms is, my Good Shepherd meets me in them. He’s not panicked, he’s not worried or stressed. Why? Because He’s “got this”.

That doesn’t mean I blithely live my life as if there were no storms, or relish going through them. That doesn’t mean I am unphased by the storms. It simply means I know I am safe in the storm, regardless of how ferocious it gets, because my Good Shepherd is literally the One Who has the power to calm the storms. Regardless of how shaky my faith in Him is.

Jackie Deems copyright 2022

37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” Mark 4:37–41