God is Our Silver Lining

His way is in the whirlwind, and the storm.  Nahum 1:3 (NIV)

About the same time I learned I had a challenging illness, I learned a “friend of a friend” had just been diagnosed with a similar condition. I didn’t know this man well, but I liked his family and prayed for all of them daily. I felt a sort of kinship with John due to our illness. Eventually, with God’s help my life got back to a normal state. But John’s did not.

I followed his progress and set-backs on the web log his wife maintained. As the set-backs prevailed I saw the storm his life had become. Finally I stopped asking God to cure him, but to instead reach deeper into the storm and give John comfort. I pictured God as the whirlwind, and thought of how the things of nature always brightened after each pounding. Since He is in the storm, He is responsible for the beautiful aftermath.

John has now passed on, his storm silenced, but I know he has found God’s brightness in the resulting calm.

Heavenly Father, guide us through our storms with a touch of your grace, and lead us to your beautiful aftermath. Amen.