Weathering the Storm with Your Faith Intact

by Jonathan Pitts Church of the City Franklin, Tennessee

Storms can hit without warning. After the last few years, that’s something we all know. I remember the first weeks after COVID-19 shut down our world. My four girls and I were bewildered, navigating how to work and learn and be a family all from our kitchen table. On top of that, we were still reeling from another storm that had hit us the summer before: we’d lost our beloved wife and mother Wynter unexpectedly.

In these storms, God taught me a lot about myself: how I lead, how I father, about my own insufficiencies. Having weathered a few now, I feel a bit more prepared for whatever’s ahead. And if you see the storm clouds rolling in, I have a few ways to help you to make it through:

1. Say “Yes” to Connection

God’s given us specific institutions that benefit our lives. And when all else has fallen away, family is where most of my joy comes from. So make sure you reach out to your family and friends.

2. Be Transparent About Your Struggles

As a pastor, I hope my life is an example to my congregation. And I'm not doing that perfectly; I have fears and worries, just like everyone else. So I try to live in an open, transparent way. I talk about my struggles, I talk about my issues. And I want people to remember that I’m human. I hope that they're seeing my reliance on Jesus, my dependence on Jesus more clearly than ever.

3. Show Up in God’s Presence

As humans, we tend to want to stay in the past or rush into the future. So it can be difficult to show up in the present for our relationship with God. The best way to do that is to literally show up for that relationship every day.

The thing I try to do is to start my day off in the presence of Jesus. So right now, every single morning before my girls wake up, I walk my dog and listen to a guided prayer podcast. It just helps me to start thinking about God and who He is. And I find the more I do that, the more He's with me throughout the day.