STORMS AND RAINBOWS

"Dear brothers and sisters, when trouble comes your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing . . . God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to them who love him." James 1:2-4;12.

I've been thinking about these verses since Sunday. Jack Graham, Senior Pastor of Prestonwood preached these verses and I must say, it's the best sermon I've ever heard him preach. He spoke of enduring "in the rain." He spoke of how God produces "rainbows" at the end of a storm. He spoke of his father being bludgeoned to death 38 years ago. He spoke of the storm that came upon his family after his father was murdered and how God brought him through it. Allow me to borrow his outline if i may. Based on the scripture above, God proves three things in a storm of life:

1. Life storms prove how genuine our faith is.
2. Life storms provide stability.
3. Life storms perfect the maturity of our faith.

This stirred a major emotion in me Sunday. As I endure this new life storm of Parkinson's Disease I relate to the three points explicitly. But the scripture, which I have preached on and studied so many times before, speaks new life into me every time it is read.

Life storms will come to all believers. It doesn't say "if trouble comes" does it? It say "when troubles come your way." We all will face difficulties, some more than others. But the scripture gives us promise and hope. Look at the words that follow: opportunity, growth, endurance, perfect, complete, wisdom. How cool is that.

Your strength and endurance may be getting a test right now. Remember the three points from Pastor Graham; proving, providing and perfecting our faith. Please note, this is from a man who recently publicly stated that he is fighting cancer. How encouraging is it to hear him stand strong on the promises of God.

You can be just as strong. Don't doubt God during a crisis. Talk to Him, trust in Him, read and meditate on His Word and believe your "rainbow" is right around the corner. In closing an unknown author put it very simply about the promise of God:

Rainbows appear after mighty storms,
When things look their very worst.
Just when skies are darkest gray,
Look for the rainbow first.

The rainbow is a sign of God's promise,
That He will guide us through any storm.
That He will see us through all our troubles,
No matter what their form.

When you feel battered by Life's storms,
And you are filled with doubt and dismay,
Just remember God's rainbow will come,
For it's only a prayer away.

Blessings,

Jody