Facing the Hurricanes of Life

Hurricane season is upon us. We never know where one will hit or how strong it will be. Kind of like life. We never know when something not so pleasant will come at us, many times out of the blue. Today I'm sharing on how to handle the storms of life by developing our spiritual muscle. Just as we strengthen our physical muscles to lift weights at the gym,  it is even more important to strengthen our spiritual muscle so we can bear the emotional and psychological loads of daily life. 

Life is full of trials and tribulations. Some of them are brought on by our own choices and others are not. Some are small and others are hurricane-size. Many are out of our control such as the pandemic. So who or what do we turn to when life starts handing us lemons instead of lemonade? Our bank account? Our spouse? The wine bottle? Amazon? Or..... someone bigger, stronger, and more powerful than us?

The truth is God sees everything that concerns you and he allows difficult situations to grow us up, teach us, and strengthen our character.  God is more interested in our character, than our comfort. You know that phrase "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Well, it's true, but it is our choice on how we will respond to these adversities. 

Faith in Almighty God - no matter what name you call Him by - is the only thing that can sustain us through the trials of life: faith to believe that we will get through the tough times, faith to trust when the path before us is not clear, faith to have hope for a better tomorrow, and, yes, faith to even be joyful in the midst of our trials. Impossible you say? Not at all!

In fact, James 1:2 says "Count it all pure joy when you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance." Notice the emphasis (mine) on the words "all" and "joy". If we look at trials from this perspective, we will see them as opportunities for spiritual and personal growth. 

As for me, someone who was raised in an anxiety-ridden family, I have learned to trust my troubles to someone who can handle the weight of the world as well as my problems. Someone who is always there and never turns his back on me or distances from me. Someone who has conquered pain, isolation, broken relationships and even death. His name is Jesus and he is the one and only Son of God. He has experienced everything you and I go through. 

The amazing thing about Jesus is this. No one else other than He - not Buddha, not Allah,can give us resurrection power - the power to get up and rise again another day, the power to turn any situation around supernaturally and He alone is our source of peace during the hurricanes of life. All we have to do is call out His name and he will answer. 

At some point, every person will have to ask themselves this question: "Who is Jesus?" The answer to that question can save your life and your eternal soul so I implore you to give it serious thought. 

Today, if you are going thru a storm, remember Jesus is in your boat, right there beside you.  He promises to never leave us or forsake us, so we don't have to feel alone even when others have abandoned us. Pastor and best-selling author, Rick Warren, once said this: "At any given time, we are either going thru a storm, just coming out of a storm, or getting ready to enter a storm." Isn't that so true? 

For Reflection
Do you know Jesus? Do you trust him? No matter what hurricane is in or around us, we can rest assured that Jesus is with us and sees all our storms. Whatever is happening in our around you, trust that God is with you and will get you through it. 

If you'd like to join our community, enter your email address in the box provided. You'll receive my weekly posts and also a copy of my free e-guide entitled "7 Steps to Finding Your Spiritual Path". Also, be sure to follow me over at Pinterest where I have tons of delightful tips and information including recipes, diet and exercise, health and wellness, and much more. Well, go visit for yourself and check out my boards and pins. https://www.pinterest.com/arielpaz/pins/

Stay tuned for more practical wisdom on how to ignite the power within and discover YOUR destiny!

Until next time,

Keep looking up!

Ariel Paz 

Is God Trying to Get Our Attention?

Another shooting. Another tragedy. Floods. Hurricanes. Earthquakes. The list goes on and things are seem to be going from bad to worse.

Many people today don't believe in God. Others believe but don't understand the nature of God and the battle between good and evil. "How could God allow this to happen?" is a question I hear often. My answer is that there is evil in this world. And if you don't believe that, then just turn on the nightly news.

We cannot fully comprehend why God allows terrible things to happen to innocent people but it has been happening since the beginning of time.

We do know that good can come out of a bad situation. People make bad choices because we have free will and a sinful, uncontrolled nature. Now, I don't want to get too deep here, but bear with me.

Much of the bad stuff that happens in our world is a result of:
a) our poor choices or
b) someone else's poor choice. 

If we were all born inherently perfect, as some philosophies claim, then we wouldn't have these bad things happen, now would we?

Remember Noah and the ark? Due to the sin of the people, God sent the great floods to wipe out humanity. All except one faithful family - Noah's. By the way, did you know there is a flood story in every major religion? Interesting, huh? But, I digress. The point is God got disgusted with the way things were going back then and decided to wipe almost everybody out.

Could it be that God is trying to get our attention once again?

Who turns to God when everything is going smoothly? It's usually only when the tough times hit that we run to God in tears. God sees what is going on in the world and I bet he's not too happy. What is it going to take for us to turn to God? How many more acts of violence and disasters have to happen before we cry out and say enough?

God sees the future and knows just what we need to go through in our lives to build our characters and make us stronger. God knows what it takes to get us out of our complacency. Setting things right takes action and effort. It also requires a changed mindset.

Look at World War 2 for example. The United States didn't want to get involved with what was going on in the rest of the world. Meanwhile, Hitler's aggressive and violent policies were murdering thousands of Jews. It was a wake-up call then and perhaps this streak of violence and natural disasters is another one to perhaps not only America but to the world in general. We cannot tolerate violence of any sort and action must be taken.

We may not understand at the time, but eventually we can look back and see good that has come from bad. I know this is true in my life, how about yours?

If this post resonated with you and you'd like to join our community, enter your email address in the box provided. You'll receive my bi-weekly posts plus a copy of my free e-guide entitled "7 Steps to Finding Your Spiritual Path".

Stay tuned for more practical and spiritual wisdom.Your thoughts are always welcome.

Until next time, keep looking up!

Ariel