Weathering Life’s Storms by Joel Berry and Al Grimaldi

Like a tornado dropping out of a thunderstorm along the Georgia-Alabama border, life’s storms can spring up out of nowhere. Life rolls along as you and your family prosper. You enjoy your job and have finally managed to put extra money into savings. You attend church faithfully and volunteer your time to serve. Your generosity demonstrates your trust in God with your finances. Then boom! The sky bursts open with peals of thunder and pouring rain, and the winds begin to howl.

Your boss tells you she must eliminate your job due to budget cuts, or your COVID test comes back positive, forcing you to quarantine at home, unable to work. Perhaps, even worse, someone you love dies unexpectedly. Life turns in a moment from an easy ride to a white-knuckle trip as a crash dummy, and you have no idea how it will end.

As a Christian, you know you should trust that God has you in His hand. Your friends tell you to just have faith and it will all work out. You feel guilty for worrying and you long for a robust faith. You ask your friends to pray, but you wonder if God hears them. Days turn into weeks, which turn into months, which may even add up to years enduring the tsunami of trouble that feels as if it will last forever. If one of life’s hailstorms has not hit you, it has hit someone you know, and storms can shake even the most fortified faith. After a season, some people eventually walk away from God, angry and frustrated. But those who choose to move toward God can find refuge and strength. The apostle James exhorted believers to consider trials as opportunities for great joy because those who remain faithful to God will mature in faith (James 1:2–4). When you find yourself weathering a storm, take shelter in God, especially when spiritual fatigue sets in. As Al battled the lingering physical effects of COVID, and Joel once endured a four-year business drought, we each formed habits that sustained us as we drew near to God. Based upon our collective experiences, we offer the following suggestions to help you weather life’s storms.

Pray for Others

Have you grown weary of constant pleading for deliverance or restoration? Change the focus of your prayer. Pray for your family and friends, asking God’s blessing upon them. Lift up others who have asked for prayer. Pray for your church, and for missionaries you know. Ask God to embolden His people to spread the gospel throughout our nation and the world.

Count Your Blessings

Recall the ways you have experienced God’s faithfulness. Ask Him to remind you of those times He has worked in your life and the lives of others; then praise Him with a thankful heart.

Meditate on the Psalms

The Book of Psalms includes prayers of worship, lament, repentance, petition, and praise. As emotions grow raw and tension grows high, we need guidance from God’s word to eliminate fear and doubt. Meditation on His word affords assurance of God’s love, grace, and mercy. Devote time to read and reflect on the Psalms, and when you feel compelled, pray through a psalm to God.

Humble Yourself

Caution yourself from turning prayers for deliverance into demands. James wrote that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). Humble yourself before God and ask Him to use your circumstances for His glory. God may or may not calm the storm, but He will refresh you when you spend time in His word. Surrender your circumstances to Him and trust Him. Paul told the Roman Christians that all things work together for the good of those who love God (Romans 8:28). Trust that God sees the end from the beginning and works for your good.

Ask God for Wisdom

Humans naturally search for reasons to explain why things have gone wrong. But sometimes God protects us from knowing the reasons for our trials. Jesus reminded His disciples that He had much more to tell them, more than they could understand at that time (John 16:12). In addition to asking why, ask what: “Lord, what would you have me know about this situation?” or “Lord, what would you have me see or do?” Ask God to grant you wisdom—ears to hear, eyes to see, and a willing heart to obey as you trust in Him.

Allow Others to Help

God created people to live in community rather than in isolation. So, allow others to come alongside you to lighten your load. God just might use your difficulty as an opportunity for someone to serve Him through serving you.

When you have laid at the feet of God every known concern and petition and have nothing left to say, find a still, quiet place and worship Him. No requests. No expectations. No pretense. No posturing. Turn your thoughts and your heart to the Lord. Worship Him through quietness in His presence or go on a nature walk and admire His creation. Listen to worship music or sing your praises out loud to Him. Focus your attention on your Heavenly Father and listen for His Spirit to minister to your heart and mind.

As you weather life’s turbulent storms—the lost job, the positive COVID test, or the absence of a loved one at the table, lean into God. Trust Him in the process, even as you wonder at His ways. He will not forsake you. And He will carry you through, maturing you in ways you may see only on the other side of eternity.

Joel Berry and Al Grimaldi serve together as spiritual mentors for men in their local church. They have both weathered life’s storms and now share what they have learned about leaning into God during turbulent times.

Joel Berry

Joel is a CPA by profession and will soon graduate from Dallas Theological Seminary with an M.A. in Biblical Studies. He and his wife, Cheri, have been married for thirty-seven years and live in Roswell, GA. They have two married sons.

Al Grimaldi

Al is a self-employed business consultant and loves to read and study God’s word. He and his wife, Carolyn, have been married for forty-two years and have four adult children and four grandchildren. Al and Carolyn live in John’s Creek, GA.