March 21 Praise Him Anyway!

THEME: Worshiping God in the midst of storms

Camille McKogg 
Shepherdess CIC
Creek SDA church

 
Growing up on an island in the Caribbean would be a dream come true for many people worldwide. The food, the culture, the warm hospitality, breathtaking white sandy beaches. Sun-drenched days and the hurricane season, wait, WHAT?! Hurricane in all that beauty. 

But isn’t that life? Life, in all its beauty, has its seasons of disturbances that gets us off balance, but knowing that there is a God who loves us in and out of stormy seasons gives us the reassurance of brighter days if we only trust and have faith. 

I remember as a little girl in 1980, August 6, to be exact, the announcement that a category 4 storm, Allen, was coming, changed the atmosphere in the north coast of Jamaica.

The sea was as calm as a mirror, and the air was still.

Hundreds of butterflies everywhere. Radios were tuned in to hear the latest update.

There was a sense of urgency and preparation like I had never seen before.  Windows were battened, documents secured, food and water stored, and lamps and lanterns were standing by for use. But with all the preparation, nothing could have prepared us for the over 30ft storm surges that tunneled through the house that sat way above sea level.  With that came fishes, which were deposited in the bathrooms, and boulders that weighed tons, from the depths onto the back veranda and scattered across the yard. That night, we took refuge in my father’s Chevrolet on the car porch and prayed until morning broke.     

Eight years later, on September 12, 1988, Hurricane Gilbert was one of the strongest tropical cyclones on record to make landfall in Jamaica, impacting as a high-end Category 3 hurricane. But we were ready! Oh yes! We were! We would not stay by the sea this time; we were going inland! Away from the storm surge! But this time, the roof of the house where we stayed flew away! We spent the day and night under a dining table praying and singing. 

 Fast forward to September 11, 2004 - Hurricane Ivan, Cayman Islands. Acquired experience and wisdom dictated that necessary preparation must be done. My husband, who had never really experienced a storm like I had, wondered about the urgency and extent of preparation. I had to give him a crash course before we headed off to seek shelter and take up duty at the hospital. Needless to say, those hours were spent praying and hoping for the best.

 For everyone, especially women, life is very similar. Our days are a mix of calm, beauty, and a series of storms.  We have either just been through one, are going through one, or are about to get out of one.  There seems to be no ease! A life of perpetual storms.

Children storms, Spouse storms, Work Storms, Financial storms, Sickness Storms, Loss of a loved one storms, Storms of all sizes and categories coming one after the other with no time to catch a breath.  Your head is hardly above water. Sometimes, we think we are all alone.

 But the Scriptures give us hope.  

I Peter 5: 7-11 (NLT) “⁷ give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.

⁸ Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. ⁹ Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are.

¹⁰ In his kindness, God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation. ¹¹ All power to him forever!” Amen.

The hope is not to have these storms break us but to build us. However, we dare not try this on our own. Through every loss, gain, pain, and blame, we have to trust God, praise him, and hold on to Him while we ride out the storms of life.

 Past experiences cannot be erased, but they can be repurposed: those wounds can become wisdom and scars that encourage strength.  We cannot let the past destroy our future; instead, we can grow from it and build something real from what was considered a wreckage.

Sometimes life is going to hurt, but if we live in fear and unforgiveness, we are not living. Moreover, overthinking everything because of past storms hinders praise and leads to a meaningless existence. 

Storms will come, but they do not stay. They draw us to pray, and we will undoubtedly see that Joy comes in the morning.

Some storms may linger, but they will make the fighter in us stronger.

Storms may destroy what we deem essential, but praise brings back focus and purpose.

Pray on, Praise on, hold on, the sunlight is in sight!

Prayer:

Father, thank you for your presence in and out of our storms. Amen!