The Upside of Turmoil

Have you ever stopped to think that in those times of turmoil, God is teaching us some of our greatest lessons? Think back to those times when you felt your world crumbling around you. Maybe to the day your girlfriend dumped you. The day you failed your English exam. The day your boss fired you. The day your mom contracted cancer. The day you miscarried your precious baby. In these horrendous moments, if we just stop and listen, we will find God. He is beside us, holding our hands through all of the tears, sweat, doubts, and hopelessness.

photo by alainkun

When I was in college, I had to take an art class. A drawing class. Most of my classmates were art majors. I was a writing major. Drawing was totally out of my league and comfort zone. Every class, I forced myself just to get through the next
sixty minutes. I cried over this class. I prayed for divine intervention from God. I vented on paper. Sweat drops would form on my hands, making it hard to grasp my pencil as I ached to get each line just right. Regardless to say, I used my eraser a lot. But day after day, I would get down just a few more lines. One more area would get shaded in. And somehow, with God’s help, I was able to finish each assignment, including the one pictured here.

Through this experience and so many similar ones, I have learned that it is only by the grace of God that we can do anything in life. Or get through anything in life. His power helped me to pick up my pencil each class. His strength helped me to complete each assignment. I know I can make it through any pain-filled, scary, heartbreaking, hopeless moment because my God stands beside me.

This is just one example of how I was taken out of my comfort zone. One of the times I felt so frail and clueless about how to even start. Have you ever felt like that? Have you ever had a problem so big, you didn’t even know the first thing to do to fix it, let alone get through it? It’s in these mammoth problems-whether it simply be an art class or learning to live after a loved one’s loss– that God can prove himself to us. We can truly see Him for who He is. When life is all rainbows and sunshine, we seem to forget our constant need for God in our everyday lives. But when the thunder and clouds roll in, we soon seem to remember. In a weird way, we can be thankful for these dark moments because it’s then when we feel God’s power and strength working in our lives.

Just like Paul said in Corinthians: “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” (II Cor. 12:9b-10)

When Jonah was in his darkest hour, it lasted three days. In his mind, he had run away from God. But Jonah was not alone. God was beside him, holding his hand. And God brought him through. Paul and Silas’s story will continue to amaze me. They had been preaching Christ to the unsaved, obeying God’s command. But they were cast into prison for their obedience. Chains restrained their physical bodies, but their hearts were free to praise and worship God. They prayed. They sang. They saw the bigger picture. And by God’s divine intervention, they were released. When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stood up for their beliefs, they were sentenced to death by way of a fiery furnace. But God walked through the fire right beside them.

I know I can’t compare my struggling artist story to any of these Bible accounts. But we’ve all had our share of painful, trying times–when our tears flowed like waterfalls. I kindly think God will be with us through our fires of life. When we think no one else is there, look again. God is there. When we are stripped of our strengths, when the familiar is taken away, that’s when God can truly teach us to rely on Him and Him alone. Your tears will fall into the hands of the One who cares.

Are you going through turmoil? Are you hurting? Do you feel alone? Turn to Jesus. He will guide you. He will be your strength. He will help you draw that masterpiece. He will help you survive three days in the belly of a whale. He will help you escape prison’s shackles. He will help you walk through the fire.

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