The Impossible Storm?

By Sandy Cathcart

“How quickly we forget.” The words fell out of my pastor’s mouth and shocked my soul awake. He was saying that God blesses us and then the next day something bad happens and we forget about how God carried us through the earlier storm. The current storm must be bigger, must be stronger, must be…impossible!

Yep. My current storm is definitely impossible, and it just keeps getting worse. I’m reminded of a scene from the movie, Shindler’s List, where a Jewish family is forced from their beautiful mansion to a one-room apartment. The father scans the bare room and with drooping shoulders remarks, “It can’t get any worse than this.” A moment later another family enters and they soon realize they must both share the apartment. Worse? Definitely. The worst? Not even close. How could the father envision something like the holocaust?

Okay. My current storm of rising bills and lowering income is not a holocaust, and I’m embarrassed that I’ve allowed it to steal my joy and paralyze me with fear. But that is the bottom line. I’m afraid to lose my lovely, but small home, and more afraid I deserve this fate because I’m a terrible financier. With housing foreclosure at an all-time high, I’m not alone in these feelings.

Have I forgotten God’s mercy? Not entirely. It’s just that I don’t feel I deserve his mercy. But then…who does? Have I forgotten his faithfulness? No. But then, there was Job, right there in the middle of the Bible. Look at all the pain he had to go through even though God was faithful. And what about the story of Joseph found in Genesis? He was forgotten there in prison, and wrongfully in prison in the first place. We know the end of the story; it all worked out really great with him being able to save his family and gaining great status and reputation, but what about all that time in prison? Did he feel God was faithful then? Probably. But did he feel forgotten? I bet.

I was feeling forgotten and even a bit abandoned while trying to teach school last night where I used the chaos of my own life as an example of plot. I noticed several faces full of empathy…one man in danger of losing his own home, my co-teacher whose two-year-old granddaughter nearly died the previous week, a woman whose mentally ill son reappeared in her life after being lost for nearly 13 years, a young childless woman who has been begging God for a baby, a teenager who survived a head-on collision, but struggles with pain and after effects, a man who could barely keep his eyes open from being worn down by the cares of life, a single mother who raised severely handicapped children on her own, a woman who wrestles with post traumatic stress disorder, another woman in the advanced stages of Hepatitis C…as I looked around the room, I knew each person had their own story of the storms of life.

“You forgot something,” Jenny Sherman, one of my long-time students said. “The good gets gooder while the bad gets badder.”

Jenny was talking about plot, and that’s exactly how it works, but her words stayed with me long after class ended. Jesus warned we would have trouble in this world, but he also said that as the dark got darker, the light would shine brighter. The bad news is things are getting really dark. The good news is that the light is getting brighter.

That’s the hope we followers of Christ can cling to through this financial storm that is hitting so many people. We are not alone. We are part of a community of brothers and sisters in Christ, and we have treasures stored where moth and rust, and even financial difficulty, cannot destroy. But what if I brought this disaster on myself? Is there still hope? Absolutely. God sends new mercies every morning. His steadfast love never ceases. Even when we are faithless, when we forget the good He has done in our lives, He remains faithful.

With the good getting so much gooder, the bad suddenly doesn’t appear quite as bad. I can rest peacefully, even as I take tenuous steps forward, knowing that God is with me whether he allows me to keep my house or whether he gives me the strength to release it. I can trust him with my future, because he has proved faithful through every storm of my past, and each one seemed impossible at the time. This current storm may be bigger, may be stronger…but for those who follow Christ…it is never impossible.

Sandy Cathcart writes from Prospect, Oregon. sandyc@connpoint.net

Impossible Storm Sidebar Suggestion (507 words):

Eight Positive Things We Can Do While Weathering a Financial Storm

1. Pray. Ask for strength. Ask for wisdom. Ask for forgiveness. Bring all our needs before the Lord. Pray for others who might be in similar situations. No matter how much we may either feel we have brought this storm on ourselves, or how much it may appear to be an impossible situation, God is faithful and will give us strength to come through this storm a better person. We are not alone.

2. Have others pray. It’s humbling, but a very necessary part of healing. We don’t have to give the details, but it is important to allow our brothers and sisters in the Lord to help see us through this storm. I called my church and asked to be placed on the prayer chain. I simply said I was in a spiritual battle and needed prayer.

3. Be still before the Lord. Take time for reading his Word. As followers of Christ, our strength comes from being still and at rest in our hearts. I find comfort in reading the Psalms and singing simple songs that remind me of God’s faithfulness and goodness and that His mercies are renewed every morning.

4. Take action. We can have a heart that is still before the Lord and still be moving forward. We can call our creditors. We don’t have to let the bills keep piling up. We can let our creditors know we want to pay them and are working on a plan. They may have means to help. More and more programs are becoming available. Consult a wise friend for help.

5. Make a budget. Let’s see how much money is going out and how much is coming in. Even though the outflow may be more than our income, it may not be as bad as we think. And if it is as bad, or worse, than we think, there may still be help available.

6. Make choices. What is most important to us? See if there are any places we can cut back. I’ve found a cheaper online service for my home business. I combine all my trips into one. I’m dropping the newspaper subscription and I’m skipping fancy coffees except on very special occasions. I’m making my own yogurt and bread, eating more rice.

7. Consider income possibilities. Perhaps we have special skills or don’t mind doing hard work. I’ve cleaned houses, raked yards, edited manuscripts, judged contests, and am looking for more possibilities. Consult the want ads. Ask our friends. I’ve also discovered cash through saving all my change.

8. Remember our brothers and sisters throughout the whole world who are undergoing the same kind of sufferings (2 Corinthians 5:6). As the bad gets badder we have more opportunity to shine the light even brighter. I’m starting and ending each day with prayer, turning my thoughts toward God every hour, and memorizing scripture. It feels great to give a smile and word of encouragement to someone else when they least expect it.