Umbrella

When it rains...

Quote: "Sin around me/Pain is in me/Stress is on me/But I gotta keep looking up"- Travis Greene

So many recent responses to some of my blog posts has inspired this post. Many people ready my story, the first post on All Things (www.thekimlewis.com/allthings/mystory) and have responded asking me more in depth about what I was feeling when I was dealing with my storm, how I made it through, and how I found the strength to stand again. I have been reluctant to go in depth but I know that I was blessed with this task and that others are facing the same feelings in their life, maybe not the same situation. A reader of mine told me that she had been keeping up with my blogs and that these first 6 were amazing and that she was looking forward to 7th, because 7 is the number of completion. So I must go in depth. 

Everyone faces a storm that brings them all the way to rock bottom, and if you haven't yet just keep living. There will be a time in your life when you have no where to turn but just understand that hitting rock bottom can be the best thing that could ever happen to you. Reason being is that God uses broken people best. He gives the devil permission to work on us and to press us in ways that are uncomfortable. He allows us to become perplexed, feeling like we are approaching the edge. We become confused and we begin to question God and we stray. The miraculous thing about all of this is that yes God allows us to become weak but not powerless, pressed but not destroyed, and pushed but not pushed over. Perplexed? yes but not in despair. 

I didn't always have this outlook. During the time that I spoke of in "My Story" I lost my faith. I went through a time when I didn't believe that God had my best interest at heart. I turned to worldly behaviors and remedies to ease my pain and of course I fell victim to self pity. I threw pity parties and I often brought my closest friends down with me. I didn't have any vision. I was in a storm, a storm that would not seem to let up. The rain was coming down on me ever so strong, and I was getting soaked.

My biggest help before God came from my mother who began to notice the state I was in and she began to speak life into me. I tried hard to ignore the words of life and I often would tune out when she spoke to me because I felt that those words sounded great but couldn't possibly help or fix my situation. But after her persistence of speaking life into me it became hard to tune the word of God out. It seemed like the more the called and the more I tried to fight, there began to be a still voice in the back of mind convicting me of my wrong doings. 

The voice became so strong that I had to listen and I had to take heed. I found myself praying every day and giving things to God and it seemed as though it began to rain harder. The devil began to fight me even harder. I began to speak positive thoughts and just when I did that it seemed as though the devil would bait negative thoughts. I began to war with my mind. The more I fought the closer I got to God and though the storm continued I wasn't getting wet anymore. God became my umbrella. He allowed the rain to fall but he shielded be from the rain drops. He got me through. I was in the storm, but i wasn't soaked. Beautiful. 

God began to provide for me and protect me in ways that I had never imagined. He open doors for me that I could not for see. He loved on me in ways that I had never been loved. I found myself when I found God. I found my purpose and I found a strength in him that allowed me to fight the enemy in ways that I never fought before. I began dodging bullets of rain. He was my covering. I don't understand how I attempted to live my life without God. He has proven and given me countless reasons to trust him. 

If you have hit rock bottom, the beauty in that is that you only have one way to go and that is up, but you cannot go up without God. I encourage you to find the beauty in you journey. Stop dwelling on the storm because you have the greatest umbrella that you can ever have. It can withstand the rain, the storm, the hurricane, and the tornado. Go through your journey! In going through your journey you must always always expect trouble, but it isn't anything that God has not prepared you for. Find the lesson in your journey so that you may move into this next phase of life that God has prepared for you. 

I encourage you to listen to the song below titled "The Hill" by Travis Greene. I have attached this song because of what is stands for. No matter what we are going through we cannot forget the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross on the hill that saved us all from our storms. This song is simply beautiful and is a constant reminder that all things work together for the good. 

Be Blessed.