Guide me to Overcome the Storms.

 Guide Me to Overcome the Storms

A Reflection on Isaiah 43:2 and Matthew 8:26

Guide me to overcome the storms—not to escape them all,

But to stand unwavering when the howling winds call.

Do not take away the tempest; instead, stay by my side,

And teach me that the safest place is where You choose to hide.

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you.” (Isaiah 43:2)

The storm may be financial, a crashing sea of debt.

The storm may be relational, where trust is thinly set.

The storm may be within me—anxiety, despair,

A hurricane of questions that fill the midnight air.

Guide me not around the storm, but through it, by Your hand.

Be the anchor for my soul when I cannot see the land.

Your voice once hushed the waves and wind; it has not lost its power.

Speak “Peace, be still” into my heart in this unquiet hour.

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. (Mark 4:39)

Teach me to fix my eyes on You, not on the rising swell.

Keep my gaze above the chaos, where Your peace forever dwells.

For the same hand that reached for sinking Peter will reach for me,

And the same voice that called him upward will call me from the sea.

So when the thunder rolls and the lightning splits the sky,

I will not be shaken, for the Lord of hosts is nigh.

Guide me to overcome the storms—each one, till they are past,

Until the final, peaceful shore where storms no longer last.

Amen.