Is Your Faith Waterproof? If you are looking for peace in the midst of life's storms, this SOULfood is for you. Are you familiar with the saying, Ap

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Is Your Faith Waterproof?

If you are looking for peace in the midst of life's storms, this SOULfood is for you.

Are you familiar with the saying, April Showers Bring May Flowers? Well, where I live it's more like May Showers Bring June Flowers.

I guess you could say we aren't very progressive in South Dakota (at least when it comes to the changing of the seasons).

Over the past few weeks, our property has taken on a beautiful emerald hue.

The lawn finally received it's first haircut of the season and we've had several thunderstorms. Although the wildflowers aren't quite blooming (and I will not risk planting my tender vegetables until June 1), the dandelions and creeping jenny are out in force.

With all the green grass and warmer weather, my family has been taking our meals on the back deck where we have an unobstructed view of our "baby coop."

It was our very first chicken coop, hand-built by my hubby and hand-painted by me (see the picture below, sorry for the snow, this was the only picture I had on hand).

Chickens 24

We call it the "cluckwagon."

Ever since my husband built the little red barn to house our laying hens, we use the cluckwagon for our baby birds each spring. This year it's packed with 11 hens, 3 turkeys, and 3 ducks.

The turkeys and ducks are a new addition for us (a very entertaining addition, I might add).

The turkeys like to run in circles around each other, and we simply can't contain our laughter when big-duck (her name is Daffodil, but she's 2x the size of the other ducks, so we call her big-duck) starts honking and chasing them back.

Seriously, have you ever watched a duck run?

So, we've got this baby coop and you can easily see it from my back deck. And earlier this week, a nasty thunderstorm rolled in at about 8:30 in the morning.

Sheets of rain were coming down, and I decided to peek my head out to see if the babies had taken cover. Let me just add here that baby birds are big fat wimps and I fully expected to see them all huddled up under the shelter of the coop.

I was right...the chickens and turkeys were nowhere to be seen. But the ducks! They didn't move an inch.

There they were, just chillin' in the rain. They looked so peaceful and content, and all I remember thinking is - they were made for this.

Ducks don't get their feathers in a bunch when storms roll in because they are naturally waterproof.

Which got me to pondering...

When the storms of life roll in, do I frantically run for shelter or am I confident enough in my waterproofing to sit down and peacefully weather the storm?

Philippians 4:6-7 says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Don't be anxious about anything. A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G-!

Not even daunting spiritual storm clouds and blaring extreme weather warnings.

God has promised to send His peace along with the storm, but we must ask Him for it.

His peace is our spiritual waterproofing, it transcends understanding and guards our heart in the midst of life's most devastating storms.

I don't know about you, but I'm not a huge fan of our local weathermen. They let me down more often than not, so I rarely watch the weather reports.

Needless to say, I regularly get caught off guard when the storm clouds roll in.

And when we are unprepared, we are vulnerable!

But Jesus warned against this in John 16:33, when he said, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

What does he mean when he says, I have told you these things?

He just spent a whole chapter telling his disciples storms are inevitable. They are part of our earthly experience. Therefore, we have no excuse, no reason to be caught off-guard.

Jesus is our spiritual weatherman, and we'd be wise to take heed to his warning.

If your faith doesn't feel watertight, set aside some time this weekend to read Jesus' parting words to his beloved disciples in John 16.

He wants us to be prepared when the storms roll in, to know where our peace comes from and who our protector is.

Then we will be waterproof enough to find joy in the midst of the rain, just like my little ducks.

Have a blessed weekend.
Sarah Koontz

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