暴风雨

金句: 「赐平安的上帝就必与你们同在。」（腓立比书4章9节）

每当我听见广播节目中的一则广告，都不禁感到好笑。那是关于一个女人在谈话中对她的朋友吼叫。因为她脑里充斥着暴风雨声，所以她觉得要大声说出她的需要。自从暴风雨摧毁她的部分家园后，她的保险公司拒绝赔偿，她所能听到的就是暴风雨声。

在我的脑海也曾有过暴风雨声，也许你也有过。当悲剧发生在自己或亲朋好友，以及新闻人物的身上时，这暴风雨声就会产生。我们的脑中充斥着「如果」的问题，我们专注在所有可能发生的坏结果。当我们等待、祷告、悲哀，并猜想上帝的心意时，我们就惧怕、忧郁，对上帝的信靠开始动摇。

我们害怕有形或无形的风暴，这是很自然的。门徒有耶稣与他们同在船上，然而他们仍旧害怕（马太福音8章23-27节）。祂透过平静风浪这一课教导他们，祂是一位全能的、关心他们的上帝。

我们总是期盼耶稣也能像那天为门徒平静风浪一般，平静我们生活中的暴风雨。其实只要抓住圣经的真理，抛下信心之锚，相信祂与我们同在船上并关心我们，这样就算在暴风雨中也能找到平安。AMC

无论暴风有多大，
耶稣掌管风和浪，
全心信靠主全能；
所有惧怕即消散。Brown

人在狂风暴雨中，才能体会锚的珍贵。

Thunderstorm Thoughts

The God of peace will be with you. —Philippians 4:9

I laugh every time I hear the radio commercial that has a woman shouting to her friend in conversation. She’s trying to talk above the sounds of the thunderstorm in her own head. Ever since a storm damaged part of her home, that’s all she hears because her insurance company isn’t taking care of her claims.

I’ve heard thunderstorms in my head, and maybe you have too. It happens when a tragedy occurs—to us, to someone close to us, or to someone we hear about in the news. Our minds become a tempest of “what if” questions. We focus on all the possible bad outcomes. Our fear, worry, and trust in God fluctuate as we wait, we pray, we grieve, and we wonder what the Lord will do.

It’s natural for us to be fearful in a storm (literal or figurative). The disciples had Jesus right there in the boat with them, yet they were afraid (Matt. 8:23-27). He used the calming of the storm as a lesson to show them who He was—a powerful God who also cares for them.

We wish that Jesus would always calm the storms of our life as He calmed the storm for the disciples that day. But we can find moments of peace when we’re anchored to the truth that He’s in the boat with us and He cares.  — Anne Cetas

Fierce drives the storm, but wind and waves
Within His hand are held,
And trusting His omnipotence
My fears are sweetly quelled. —Brown

To realize the worth of the anchor, we need to feel the stress of the storm.