Last night I was awaken by the storm.  I went downstairs to lay on the sofa and talk to Jesus. This week I’ve been praying for many different things – friends who are experiencing a broken marriage, loss of a parent, renewed passion in ministry, mission trip to Deborah House (a home for abused children in Romania), …….

As I laid there listening to the storm, I prayed deeply for my sisters in the Lord to know Him in the storm, and to feel His presence in a fresh way.  Why is it at night, in the dark, we feel most vulnerable.  Is it because we are quiet, still, no one to distract us?  I wrestle with God, and rebuke the enemy the most during that vulnerable time.  I call on His name and create a visual in my mind of Him restoring my friends, lifting them up, ministering to them.

So where are you God when bad moments turn into bad days, into bad weeks, into unbearable years?

I’ve heard Moses’ story about a thousand times, pretended as a child and with my current children pretended to put Baby Moses in the river, read the story, watched Disney Prince of Egypt, heard many sermons on this ….BUT NEVER….. have I concentrated on the MOMENT when Moses’ mom released the basket with her son in it into the Nile River.  It must have been hard giving birth to a son during a time they were being killed.  She must have struggled when God gave her the vision of HOW to protect him – “Really God you want me to do what?! ” It must have been hard making the basket knowing what she had to eventually actually do. It must have been hard to hear all the criticism and questioning of her friends and maybe even family.  It must have been hard to pick the day she would actually have to carry out God’s plan.  It must have been hard that day walking down to the Nile – every step painful.  It must have been hard for Moses’ sister to be asked to keep watch.  But in my heart, I have to believe the hardest moment for her was actually releasing the basket – letting go, and trusting God for His provision and work in her child’s life.  What’s in your basket?  Will you release it – let go, trust God?

I believe God can instantly heal, but for most of us we are like Moses’ birth mother.  It’s a process, a journey that begins with an honest relationship with Jesus, crying out to Him and being vulnerable and resolved all at the same time.  In the process and journey, I believe that God gives us single moments to act. Stop and think of those moments in your life.  They are usually spiritual milestones.  If I were to ask you to create a spiritual time line of  events in your life, it would be these moments.  However, the timeline/the journey is there, with the moment.  I sometimes call these “lightbulb moments”.  It’s the moment you know you can’t continue in this direction, and God is calling you out to a higher place or healing.  It feels like a release, but at the same time it feels like a huge responsibility and you wrestle with all the “What if’s?”  It’s bitter-sweet.

His Word says in Psalm 30:5, “ … weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” His Word says in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

Three things God has shown me in the moments of release:

1. Pray, pray, pray.  Close your eyes and visualize His hand working in your life and working things out for you, your family member or friend.  Be watchful and notice even the smallest of things pointing you in the direction you should go, or stop doing. Remember His grace and mercies are new each morning, and embrace Him in prayer.  He does not get tired of talking to you about the same thing.  He loves you more than you can comprehend.

2. Even through tears and confusion, worship Him and visualize yourself in Heaven with Him for eternity RESTORED.  Picture restoration in all things, and His love covering every struggle, and every wrong corrected and made beautiful.  Heaven is our hope!  Trust that He will bring forth a renewed heart, passion, and vision for you this side of heaven and the wait is worth it.  He is working it all out for His glory in His timing.

3.  Connect with others and pray with them, lift them up, and show them how God is working even in the midst of the storm.  I’m always surprised at how many of us are struggling, yet we don’t want to share for fear of being judged.  God will show you who, where, when, but He has that special friend that will pray with you.