When a storm hits our life...

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 

I will fear no evil, for you are with me;"

Psalm 23:4a

Weeks ago a friend of mine had oral surgery and everything went well, but after two days he started bleeding and the bleeding wouldn’t stop. His wife brought him to the hospital and in doing all the exams they found out he had leukemia.

When the circumstances around us are against us, do we still hold on to our God?

I grew up in a catholic family, my parents never went to church, they didn't have a Bible and if I had questions about that Jesus that we would celebrate every Christmas and Easter, they didn't know how to answer.

When I was 8 my mom attended for the first time an Evangelical Church. Despite the difficulty with my dad threatening her for divorce if she would go again, she enjoyed listening to the Gospel and secretly kept on attending the meetings. I was placed in Sunday school. At first I didn't really like it, but in the next two years they started teaching about Christ, that same Christ that my parents could not explain to me.

When I realized I was a sinner, even if so young, and that if I would have a died a sinner and  that I would have gone to Hell and be separated from God, I repented of my sins and asked forgiveness and started a new walk with God. I was ten at the time.

When I was fifteen I wanted to get baptized, I wrote a letter to my dad who was still  against my new faith and I asked permission to obey God by being baptized. Long story short he got very upset and brought me to our farm house, one hour away from my family, as a punisment. He kept me there for a week and then he didn't talk to me or consider me his daughter for about one year. 

Years went by and I was seventeen and I was encouraged by my elders to talk to my dad so that I could be baptized. I was scared to death of what it could happen because I didn't want to be hurt again. After praying much I talked to my dad who didn't say much this time, maybe he thought I was joking. Well as time went by and the day of the baptisms drew closer I approached my dad again and this time things went a little different. First he told me that if I did get baptized I was not allowed back to the house, and I said "ok."

Then he said he was physically going to hurt me, and I said "ok."

Finally he said he was going to be there the morning of the baptisms and not let me out the house, and I said "OK."

My dad wasn't there that morning and, with the encouragement of my leaders, I got baptized, there was a potluck for lunch and then and afternoon service as well. 

My prayers during that time were that I would be able to praise God no matter what , like Paul and Silas when they were put in prison. 

My dad came in the afternoon and was very upset, he almost came into the church building yelling but he was stopped by his own brother (who gave his life to Christ a few months earlier). I went out serene, knowing that God was taking care of everything. And He did, in fact my dad didn't do anything of the things he treatheaned to do. 

In those years I learned that only God can give true unconditional love. 

I also learned to hold on to God. We may not like everything that He allows in our life, but we need to keep trusting Him. We need to hold on to Him in the good and in the bad that happens in life. God is the only one who can give the peace in the storm and the strength to get through it! 

All the trials He allowed in my life helped me be who I am today. 

There are going to be many storms in our lives, maybe the death of a dear one, an unexpected change in our job, our parents, strong believers suddenly go through a divorce...what will we do? 

When a storm hits our life, let’s hold on to God, let’s keep our trust in Him.