A Blissful Storm

Hope is the essence of why I choose to rise every morning. I hope in many things, but in everything my hopes always lead back to one thing: God. In God I hope; I hope in His plans and His dreams, I hope in His strength and patience. For I know deep in my heart that without the hope and faith that God would give, to give me the strength to rise, I would have given up on any dreams I ever dared dream. I would be walking a life of no value, with no thought to myself or God or these people. My life would be fruitless, my heart, a stone; cold and dead. 

I can’t help but wonder how anyone would choose to live a life without hope or knowledge that there is a God who loves and will provide for them what is necessary for survival; strength and hope; a reason worth living. How do people who have lost everything stand to rise everyday without any recognition of a higher being who will care for them? How do they choose to keep living? What is the purpose of their life?

Perhaps these are odd questions but my mind cannot rest. I look back over the past several years and I know that without God’s constant strength (even when I couldn’t see or feel Him) I would have quiet given up on everything in my life. Today everything I think, do or say is driven by a desire to live for God, trusting that He has something worth while for my life. I have a reason and purpose for rising each and everyday regardless of how hopeless and dark situations appear to become. 

Who would I even be without my God? For my God defines me: my very breath is for Him. I am driven to serve Him and to become, myself, an image of whom Jesus was. It is something which I am constantly striving for and will forever pursue. If God did not define me and my purpose for living then what would define me?

What defines those people apart from God who lives lives with little hope? Is it their actions, words, or position in life? Is it their status, friends and titles? Or perhaps all  of those together? Who would I be should any of those ‘things’ define me? Would I be anyone in the world? 

I must admit I am very glad for a God whom I choose to have faith in, for without Him I would be very little in this world, with little purpose and meaning. I would be empty, hollow and weak. Would I even have a chance in this world? Would I be able to withstand the storms that life brings?

       

       Any trail that I am able to walk with God is more of a blissful storm then a tempest at all. It is a sweet rain that refreshes the soul, though it may sting ever so slightly, simply because God protects, strengthens and uses it for good. Through life's storms, God develops us: "Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations, be assured and understand that the trials and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience. But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing."  where as walking through a  storm alone and broken can bring  ruin to the soul. 

Through God I have life. I have hope and the strength to rise. In God I have a purpose, a reason to live. God defines me and loves me; He leaves me in want of nothing. How could I ever look at my life and not see how God has provided and walked with me? God walks with me through the blissful storms and restores my broken and bruised heart. Life is hard, and that's why I need God. 

I praise God for today and tomorrow for the life I can live in Him.