Winds Of Change

Sitting here looking out my daughters window watching snow being driven by 20 mile per hour, sometimes 50 mile per hour wind. I can hear the house creak under the stress, I see the trees bend under the force, I watch as my vision goes from clear to complete white out conditions, and I think. I think about our lives, sometimes we are like the snowflakes being driven by wind in every possible direction absolutely out of control, chaotic. Other times we are like the house, fairly stable, safe and warm, but creaking from standing under so many storms, tired. I think I like the trees the best, they are firmly rooted so they bend and sway but rarely break because they are flexible, moving from the force but rarely falling over or leaving their deep roots. Too much of the time though our lives are like my vision in the storm. We can catch glimpses down the road and then nothing, not even our toes in front of us. It is hard to keep our eyes focused, our vision clear, our dreams and goals before us. For me, my calling and purpose in life is one moment clear, motivating, energizing, the next I am not sure of anything and am lucky to see the path to my coffee maker.

Life is the wind. It is ever changing, moving, forcing, pressing, driving, calm one moment and then category F5 the next. So how do we stay standing, stay rooted, keep seeing, keep hoping, focus and move forward? Great question. I don’t think I know exactly, but I know a guy.

Jesus, in Matthew 7:24-27 (ESV) gives us this solution:

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

“Hears these words of mine and does them” I think this is where most of us who struggle with living the Christian life fail. We hear. We read. We think about. We request. We “claim” the promises in our bibles. But do we do?

The last year I have found God making this more and more clear to me. And not the easy way. In 2023 we became empty nesters. Abruptly. That might not sound like a big deal to some, but for us it was, is, painful. My wife and I have a great marriage, we are friends, business partners and love each other more now than ever, but we love our girls. We loved our time together, our focus on making memories, on supporting their dreams and we loved hanging out and doing life with them. And then, poof. One needed to get out on her own to figure out adulting on her terms and the other went to college. Normal, yes, but so abrupt! We felt like our world changed over night. Wind. My wife had some major health victories and then a sudden health set back. Wind. The economy slowed, our income changed and expenses rose. Wind. I found motivation to try and write and create, then I lost that motivation, now I hope it is back to stay. Wind. Family drama. Wind. Family loss. Wind. Car trouble. Wind. Feeling inadequate. Wind. Feeling like a failure. Wind. Anxiety. Wind. How about you? What has been your wind? Are you standing? Blowing around? Creaking? Bending? Blinded? Let’s look at what to do. How to stand.

In the book of Matthew, starting in chapter five through chapter seven, Jesus gives a very long and detailed sermon filled with “what to dos” in a multitude of situations including giving, anger, lust, enemies, divorce, and anxiety. You can find very specific and clear direction in those chapters, but I want to start at a root problem for many of us. Anxiety is often our response to the wind, anxiety is emotional and spiritual instability. Like the wind it tends to disorient, blind and break us so I think it is a great place to begin to dig in and stand against the wind. If we can learn to overcome anxiety by doing something we can begin to lay a strong foundation or drive in a strong root that may keep us in place as the wind blows.

We find very clear, very precise instruction on fighting anxiety in Phillippians 4:6 “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

Let’s pull it apart a bit.

◦“Do not be anxious about anything, BUT” The easiest way to think of the “but” here is to “replace with” or “Instead of” do this…

◦“By prayer and supplication”, I won’t lie, I had to look up supplication, it means to make a petition, earnest or humble request. So to simplify, pray and ask humbly, but with a seriousness and sense of reality. In other words be honest with God in your request. Tell Him how scared, tired, broken or blind you are in the moment.

◦Next, “with thanksgiving” I hate using the term “key” but in this case, this is key. Be honest about the wind in your life, but remember all of the times God has answered your prayers, provided for your physical needs, blessed you with peace, love, friendships, forgiveness, given you another sunrise or a warm place to sleep. Whatever you can think of that is good in your life or whatever you know you have been saved from, even for the ability to know God and have a relationship with Him. Think about these things and thank Him in the middle of your wind storm. It is impossible for anxiety to press against you if your mind and heart are dwelling on things you are thankful for. Thankfulness is a silver bullet against anxiety and fear. Isn’t it so amazing that we have clear direction in how to fight? God designed us for this battle, and He armed us with tools and weapons to overcome, we just have to choose to DO. Be honest with God about your situation, be thankful and tell Him you are during your prayer, then…

◦“Let your request be known to God.” Ask. Request a reprieve from the wind, He can calm the wind and the waves. Request clarity, He gives vision and purpose. Tell Him you are tired, your strength will come from Him. Tell Him you want to stand, He is your rock, your root, your foundation.

The winds will keep blowing, but I hope as you remember to stay close to our Heavenly Father by being honest with Him, being thankful for all He has done in you and around you, and by earnestly asking Him for what you need, you will be able to stand, and like the house built on the rock, you won’t fall, you won’t fail when the storm comes. You can stand.