God has set His throne in Heaven He rules over us all! He is King. So bless God! Psalms 103     Dusk - the breeze is gentle, the crickets start singing, here His Spirit calls to me.  For life slows down, I can take a deep breath. On this particular day, I had just finished a walk full of thoughts. The sky stopped me. It was beautiful, calm, the sun slowly closing the day to greet evening. Then I looked behind my shoulder and the ugliest dark thick cloud met the beautiful serene sky. As I looked closer it was almost as if the God had taken His finger and drawn a line separating the two. I stood amazed wondering how such beauty and peace met such power and unknown. In that moment it was as if God whispered to me, "I am in both of these places, I am here."      "I am in both of these places." God of the storm and God of the calm. I was taken aback in my thoughts because I am a sunshine girl. I like God of sunshine, peace, joy, love, forgiveness, victory...I dwell in Ephesians 3 (Take in with all the Christians the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love- The Message) and Romans (Rom. 8 "nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable-absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.- The Message) that is where I live. That is what I share fearlessly. 

    God of the storm. My head knows that life is hard, we live in a fallen world, and my heart embraces the fact that God will rescue us one day. But I do not really like to think about God in the storm, I like to think about God taking me out of a storm or calming a storm or rescuing people from a storm.  When Jesus was here on earth 2000 years ago, He was in the middle of the storm. Yes, He was asleep in the storm. I have often thought what made Jesus sleep?  Did He not know it was storming? My hearts says of course He knew. He is God. He also must have known the outcome, because He is God. He knew the power He had to immediately calm the storm. But He let the storm rage for a time. (Matthew 8:22-25)

     Why? Why didn't Jesus fix the storm before it ever tossed the boat? Did Satan send the storm to try to harm Jesus? Did the landscape around that area need water to make plants grown and was the lake level down? Why did it storm? I am not sure. But the two things I took from this story are that: we are not supposed to fear the storm and that Jesus is with us in the storm.       Jesus looked at the storm from an angle that we rarely observe- He had the power to calm the storm. In our lives storms rage. The storms rage, storms such as: loss, broken trust, childhood pain, unexpected financial strain, rejection... Jesus still has the power to calm our storm, but we do not always ask Him or let Him. And if we do ask Him, do we really trust that He will rescue us? Many think He must have sent the storm or that He is mad or that He is busy or the storm is a result of our mistakes. I think that God dwells in dimensions that we are not even capable of comprehending and yet He desires relationship with us. He promises in Romans 8:28 "We are assured and know that (God being a partner in their labor) all things work together and are (fitting into a plan) for good to and for those who love God and are called according to His design and purpose." (The Living Bible) So we might not ever understand why the storm came, but we can embrace the truth that He will conquer the storms in our lives if we let Him. The disciples woke Jesus to save them. We must go to Jesus in the middle of our storm and ask Him to rescue us.       Jesus is with us in the storm. I often tell girls and young women that I mentor that God cries with you. I do believe that Jesus feels our pain as if it were His own. I am convinced that He wipes our tears and longs for the day when we live in Paradise with "no more tears." He promises in Heb. 13:5 "For He (God) Himself has said," I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support...I will not in any degree leave you helpless or forsake nor let (you) down (relax My hold on you )! (Assuredly not)" TLB  He is not leaving when the storms of life overwhelm us. He is there helping us, enabling us to fight for our life, forgive, accept and give love, heal, live... Answer- Have you ever thought about God facing life's storms with you?Does this comfort you?Will you trust Him today to give Him your "storm" and ask Him to calm it and rescue you?Prayer-Jesus, You are the Almighty God, Lord of all, please calm the storm that rages in my soul, mind and heart. I give you the storm of___________________________________________________________________. Thank you for carry my burdens for me. I have fears also, Help me to trust You. Here are my fears _____________________________________________________________________________. I ask that you would walk with me moment by moment in this storm until it passes . I pray for Your calm and peace to carry me. In Jesus name