Focus on ME, Not the Storm

They say God doesn’t give us anything more than we can handle.

I say “they” are wrong.

In this life, sometimes the best people, the most deserving of everything good, are handed battles that are unjust and unimaginable. We see it with our own eyes. Good people are are handed monumental Goliath-sized problems, unwinnable for any human alone.

It makes no sense, does it? That a faithful and just God would allow bad to fall onto those who love him. There is nothing fair in that… but we live in a fallen world, and even though God doesn’t INTEND hurt and pain for our lives, he does allow it… so we learn to depend on our Creator, and to point others to HIM, where the victory is won.

I believe He IS faithful. His faithfulness comes in the promise that he works ALL things to the good of those who love him. We hang on to the knowledge that he NEVER allows anything to happen in our lives that won’t ultimately be used for good. His desire is to draw the lost back to Himself. And we soak in the comfort that whatever we are called to walk through, we never really have to walk it alone.

Look no further than that Friday on Calvary to understand what I mean. On that hill, nailed to that cross, the enemy thought he had triumphed. Jesus was dead; it was clear the war was over. But as believers, we know that God allowed the pain of that insurmountable loss because Sunday was coming… and the resurrection would show us that nothing is insurmountable for Him. From the jaws of death, he delivered life. Through that loss was born a miracle; victory has been won.

And we are not alone.

So, over again we are allowed to walk through pain, and despite circumstances that should cripple us, we are called to stand up against storms that alone would overwhelm us.

But if the storms we face have us running to HIS shelter, we WILL find our peace, refuge, and salvation… and then victory is won. When others witness a supernatural strength and peace pouring out from us, even when the strongest winds are threatening, and we can point to HIM as the source of our resilience… and then victory is won.

He implores us, “keep your eyes focused on ME, not the storm.”

Heidi’s Hurricane

If you know Heidi May’s story, then you know her storm is a hurricane of monumental proportion. It should have already consumed her and her precious family.

And yet they stand, taking one step forward at a time, battling, with a warrior mentality and a superhuman love and grace… pointing straight to Jesus.

Six years ago, after his brave battle with colon cancer, Heidi lost her husband Chad, and their young children, Austin and Addison, lost their dad.

Chad was a caring and present father; a coach and educator; a difference maker in people’s lives. He was young, vibrant. His loss was gutting to our community. It was unfathomable to watch this young family walk through the loss.

And yet they stood, taking one step at a time, pointing to Jesus.

Through Chad’s illness, and at his passing, to those of us on the outside looking in, Heidi was steadfast, faithful, selfless. She stood against the winds, protecting her children, and sheltering in the promises of her Creator.

And God was faithful. In time, he brought into her life a man with a heart for God, Chris, and his beautiful children, Ethan and Linden. They blended their families, and for a while there was calm.

But it turns out they were in the eye of the storm, and Chris was brought to Heidi to stand beside her, hold her up, and keep her eyes focused on Jesus, not on the back half of the storm that she was about to face head on.

“Keep your eyes on ME, not the storm.”

Heidi was diagnosed with the same cancer that had taken Chad. Addison was too young to remember that monsoon. But Austin did. And now Heidi was tasked with the inconceivable burden of fighting cancer while giving her family encouragement and hope… and teaching them that despite dark circumstances, the victory has been won.

She and Chris did that, ARE doing that. And they haven’t just been teaching that lesson to their children, but to our community. They step in faith, with brave resilience and with a peaceful perseverance that can ONLY come from Jesus… as they unabashedly point all glory back to Him.

She went through the treatments that ravaged her body, and walked through it all still selflessly giving: to the students she serves as a mentor and teacher, to the family she treasures, and to the friends she loves like they are blood. She has been a BEACON of strength, grace and hope. When the series of treatments were over, in late January of 2021, she got clean scans. The cancer was gone, and everyone who knows her rejoiced.

But the storm wasn’t over. Just a week after the clean scans, they found more lesions on Heidi’s brain.

And so they braced for stepping forward against more wind, with the Word of God and the promises it holds held in out front of them, all the while pointing all of us to Jesus, and shouting into the storm that despite our circumstances, God is STILL GOOD, all of the time.

Their strength and grace just isn’t of this world. It just isn’t.

Heidi called me a month or so ago, in the middle of her treatments, which thankfully, seem to be working. She hates what the medications have done to her body, and she doesn’t recognize the reflection in her mirror, but she felt it was important for her family to be photographed. She wants to document this battle they are waging to show that what the enemy means for harm, God can restore. There is good that has come from even this; their bonds as a family have strengthened as they’ve walked through this storm together, and she wants her children to be able to have tangible evidence of it.

I told her that my hope is, that for the rest of their lives, when Austin, Addison, Ethan, and Linden look at these images, they’re going to know that regardless of what comes their way, they WILL have the ability to persevere. They’ll know that God walks before us, providing for our needs before we are even aware of them, and that is because of the example that she and Chris have set, keeping their eyes on the face of Jesus, and not on their storm.

They sure have been an inspirational example to me.

And I told her, when she is on the other side of this hurricane, and the reflection she sees in the mirror is more familiar to her, I hope she will let me document that celebration too.

Victory Has Been Won

Everything in this life, good and bad, is temporary. God knows the real victory is won in where we spend eternity. He is willing to let us be overwhelmed, to teach us to depend on HIM.

We aren’t always privy to the reasons God allows some of us to carry extraordinary burdens. We may never know for whom, what, or why our struggles are allowed . Sometimes the good that comes is in a future harvest that we may personally never see… but our faith tells us that our toil and our pain is never in vain.

As for me, this special family, and this amazing, wonderful woman of God, is evidence of that… victory has already been won.