When God Takes On Your Storm

Yesterday, I shared how, while on vacation, God gave me peace before the storm I didn’t know was on the horizon. I’m really glad God prepares us for trouble but He doesn’t give us all the details—aren’t you? If we knew—we may never leave our house! If I knew that four of our five days we had planned in Colorado would be spent mostly driving to hospitals and taking care of a sick child, I think I would have stayed home. But like I shared yesterday, God had a plan for us to take the Gospel to some very specific folks on this journey.

Allow me to share a few more details about this trip—how God’s Spirit was strong and His peace that passes understanding displayed His glory!

Glorifying God is the entire purpose of our life. We ALL have trouble! But when we humble our heart and allow God to handle it—we have miraculous stories to share. Our testimonies glorify God and encourage others to live in loving obedience to Christ. 

The entire story of our life should be a shining path of glorifying God—right?

In fact, the Psalmist encouraged the praise of God for His glorious works:

“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts.” 

“I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and on Your wondrous works. Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts, and I will declare Your greatness. They shall utter the memory of Your great goodness, and shall sing of Your righteousness.” 

“The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works.”

“All Your works shall praise You, O Lord, and Your saints shall bless You. They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom, and talk of Your power, to make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of His kingdom.”

”Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures throughout all generations.”

”The Lord upholds all who fall, and raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look expectantly to You, and You give them their food in due season. You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.” 

“The Lord is righteous in all His ways, gracious in all His works. The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them.”

Psalms 145:3-19

Living for God’s glory produces the most satisfying and amazing life—even amidst trouble!!!

The opportunities were all around us—even when most people would say it was a disastrous vacation. When we share the stories of God’s providence and protection, we inspire and encourage others to walk in the Spirit! For the remainder of this devotional, let me share a few more miracles from our “vacation.” 😅

One evening on the trip, we checked into a hotel in Oklahoma City. We were thoroughly exhausted after having driven about 500 miles with a two-year-old, but the Lord laid it in our hearts to not rush up to our room, but rather to give the lady at the front desk one of our tracts. She took it and said, “You have no idea how much I need this right now.” She was the only one on duty, but the Lord opened up an opportunity for a 45-minute discussion about salvation—with no interruptions. Wow! She was so hungry to know about God’s love. We shared the Gospel and how she could know Jesus as her Lord and Savior. We put our arms around her and prayed as tears streamed down her face. The seed of God’s Word was planted in her heart that evening. We’re still praying she will accept Jesus as her Lord and Savior. We know the Word will not return void!

Although I already shared in yesterday’s devotional much about how God worked for His glory through trouble, it seems that even on the way home we were to have additional opportunities! The photo used in this devotional was taken right before we drove through an area in Kansas under a tornado warning. The wind and rain of the storm raged for about two hours of our drive, but God provided a semi in front of us for the entire time so I could see the road. Wow! 

One more story…

The next day, we were about an hour and a half from home when I noticed the tire pressure light on the dash. We pulled over and found out we only had about 12 pounds of pressure in one of the tires because we’d picked up a 2 inch screw somewhere. Again, God provided. Grace found a man who was getting ready to leave his shop for the day but who was willing to stay to plug the tire. It took him only 15 minutes to remove the tire, pull out the screw, and plug the tire. He made the comment that it was highly unusual for a screw to go that deep into a tire without breaking. I began to think, “Okay God, this must be another opportunity!” We thanked him, gave him a tip and one of our Gospel tracts, and we were on our way. If we would have had to call roadside assistance, we likely would have been waiting for hours. As we drove away, we prayed the Spirit would lead him to read the Gospel tract and would work in his heart to draw him to Jesus. 

We would have never had the opportunity to share with him but for that crazy screw!

My hope and prayer in sharing these testimonies with you is that you will also begin to see each storm and each trial as an opportunity for God’s glory. We didn’t choose that hotel in Oklahoma City by chance. That semi didn’t just happen to be in front of us. We didn’t go looking for a flat tire. It was the path God paved for His glory.

Each trial can be an opportunity to glorify God and watch Him do miracles that blow our mind and delight our soul!