Weathering the Storms

Hey y’all!

It’s been a hot minute since my last post, but holy moly, this year has been a whirlwind and it’s only just getting started!

In the few short months of this year, my family has been through some high-highs and low-lows at lightening speed.

Has it been easy? No. Not at all. But did we make it through it? Absolutely. And we’re better because of it. All of this has gotten me thinking about how yes, it’s been a rough few months but everyone has those kind of days/weeks/months/years *insert Friends theme song here* (#sorrynotsorry)

I feel like a common misconception people have is that “Once I have x amount of dollars” or “Once I get that dream job” or “Once I find a husband/wife” my life will finally be perfect and I won’t have any problems”.

And social media doesn’t help when every time you click on to it, you see people with seemingly perfect hair/skin/job/relationship.

Don’t get me wrong, social media is a great thing, and I use it a lot, but I also realize the effects it can have on people. 

Real talk for a minute: no matter how much money, publicity, fame, cars, homes, friends, followers, etc. you have, everyone deals with something.

Let’s call it the Instagram effect. On Instagram, people post the end result. The multi-filtered picture perfect result of many ugly battles. You see the precious children in their Sunday church clothes with perfect curl ringlets and big pink bows in their hair. You don’t see the sleep deprived rockstar parents who struggled to get everyone dressed, fed, and out the door on time and have spilled goldfish crackers all over their car floor. (Side Note: Shoutout to the amazing people raising tiny humans 🙌🏻 Y’all are seriously amazing!)

You see the couple who’s been married 50 years and are surrounded by family and friends at their anniversary party. You don’t see the long nights and countless fights with screams and slamming doors.

You don’t see the storms, just the rainbows.

And for Christians, those storms come hard and fast. Just because you’re a Christian doesn’t mean life is going to suddenly be easy. The devil works hard, y’all. And for Christians, he kicks it into overdrive. As Christians, we are called to be a light and share Gods word to a world that oftentimes doesn’t want to hear it. It’s a sad truth. And when you make a mistake, there’s plenty of people standing in line waiting to point it out.

But guess, what? There’s this thing called grace, and this other thing called forgiveness. The devil may work hard, but our God is SO much greater.   

So how do we get through it? All the storms and ugly-crying? Because there will no doubt be storms and ugly crying.

We pray. We have faith. We keep going. We turn our eyes to the Lord. It’s okay to feel sad and upset and cry and be angry and hurt. But it’s not okay to stay in that place. We have to keep going.

There’s a reason for it all. And no one has a perfect life.

No matter the fame or fortune, no one said the Christian life was all sunshine and unicorns. There’s going to be hard times. But how we react and what we learn from those times are where the lesson is. God has a purpose for it all. And you will make decisions you never thought you’d be able to make.

So next time you see the picture perfect family, wedding pictures of the girl you were always jealous of in high school, the girl with perfect skin/hair/style, say a prayer for them. Because they are dealing with something, too. We all are.

Until next time, 

Be the light. Spread the joy. Glorify the Lord.

XOXO,

Team SFB