My grandparents lived on Marco Island, off the coast of Florida. When I was in high school, my grandfather would give me his boat and my friends and I would drive it around the entire island. We would boat through the protected mud flats and across the expanse of the exposed gulf, where the winds were strong and the waves were large. Some days the weather radio would beep, indicating a storm was coming, and we would race full speed for home.
These storms would come out of nowhere. The rain would pelt against our skin, each drop like a needle. The winds would hurl rain down in sheets against the water, making the ocean appear rough and then smooth against the rush of the wind. In those anxious moments, which felt slightly out of control, we were tucked behind the glass in our rain gear, while the pelting drops and storm would rage around us, there the air felt soft. Tucked in the small safe space of calm in the storm, I see a picture of God as our protector.
When we experience God as our protector, He steadies our soul. We don’t rush to our own anxious thoughts or fears because we settle in with confidence that in each circumstance He is our shield where we find calm in the storm.
When we experience God as our protector and the waves of life come at us from all sides, He is the anchor of our soul. God brings the steadiness that only He can provide and the vision to see through the circumstances. With eyes on the horizon, we settle into His protection. We find rest there. We find security. In His arms, we find life fully lived with held loosely with open hands.
When we experience God as our protector, we can listen and follow because we know we are not alone. Our calm in the storm looks different than you may expect, because we live in the eye of the storm…in the embrace of our loving Father.
When we experience God as our protector, we have the peaceful assurance that we are ok, even when life is not ok. We live for more and in the shadow of His wing, fear subsides. We steadily look to the Rock which is higher than us, because He who knows all and is in all is our protector.
Today, tomorrow, forever, living in the eye of the storm is where we were created to live…protected, provided for, at rest. Life around us will keep happening, but just as we embrace our child and protect them in the rain, so our God will protect us in the storm. In both the good and the bad, we experience God as our protector because it is true of His character to protect His children.
Find me in the eye of the storm, protected by our great God, and you will find me at rest. Find me in awe of how God as my protector knows more of what I need than I may know myself. I will choose to live as one who is protected, and although that reality may be difficult to see in each moment, it is the reality I know to be true. It is true for me, and as His child, it is true for you.
To truly experience our God’s fullest protection we must hold nothing back. Laying our lives completely in His arms. Not pushing our own way, but with eyes on the horizon, pressing through the storm towards Him, accepting His protection, which is only natural for Him to so freely give.
This is the free life, held loosely because we are protected so sufficiently.
